Franca Carassai

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Franca Carassai is an architectural and urban designer based in London. She studied Architecture at FAPyD (Argentina) and Environmental Architecture and Sustainable Urbanism at La Salle (Spain). She recently completed her complementary studies in Cultural Infrastructure at UCL (UK) and Restauro Architettonico at Università degli Studi di Genova (Italy). She’s working in the private sector on a wide range of projects, from public realm guidelines to urban landscape designs, focusing her insights at the intersection of behaviour change and design. She pursues her research interests in active travel, community engagement and collective processes within the built environment and is passionate about engaging herself in collaborations about placemaking and co-design methods.

She believes in architecture and urbanism as a process more than a project, she believes it’s about triggering reactions in response to an urban problem, a necessity, a common will. She trusts architecture is a city tool, it’s about appropriation, activation of a non-space and social inclusion. Her interests in active travel, community engagement and collective processes within the built environment lead her to always look for new learning opportunities and cultural experiences where to develop a better understanding of how citizens relate to their city and make use of it. On the grounds of it, she strives for practical interventions that can improve people’s everyday lives and are sustainable, both environmentally and socially.

My experiences with the AoU have been incredibly valuable; participating in the mentoring scheme as well as in the small grants scheme - the latest with Jane’s Walk London - offered by the Academy have been enriching and left a positive impact on me. Therefore, I decided to take on a more active role within the YU network and so in shaping the Academy's mission. I hope that joining the Young Urbanist Steering Committee lead me to make meaningful connections, to engage in thought-provoking discussions from where I can also learn from other driven individuals involved in the city-making process.