Giulia Gualtieri

Giulia Gualtieri is an architect and urban development strategist. She attained an MSc in Urban Management and Development from IHS – Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies – from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (2018). Her background is in architecture, as she graduated at Yasar University, Izmir (Turkey) with a BSc in Architecture (2016).

Giulia’s educational and professional paths are multidisciplinary and international, as she studied and worked in many different countries, from Italy to Turkey, from the Netherlands to Somalia; while developing outstanding interpersonal communication skills with experts from various sectors. Therefore, she excels at engaging in several types of situations, thanks to her cultural sensitivity and chameleonic nature. Empathy is entirely part of herself, at the same time, the winning card for building a strong network.

Giulia is a partner at Huasipichanga, a transdisciplinary collective that aims to encourage citizen ownership of urban spaces and motivate a progressive development of inclusive societies. She contributes globally to the consolidation of sustainable and inclusive urban practices by supporting people on identifying their local identity and strengths. Her primary interests are public space and communities, especially in the Global South. She truly believes co-design and co-creation of urban solutions with local participation and a multistakeholder engagement. Since 2019, she advocates for child-responsive planning and design, as part of Huasipichanga team and leader of Placemaking Europe network, by initiating awareness campaigns, organizing interactive workshops and developing methodologies and tools for more child-friendly public spaces. During the last year, she brought her contribution to Italy, Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Senegal.

Giulia is also a trainee of the European School of Urban Game Design – Trust in Play – since summer 2019 - a program that has been allowing her to advance her design skills and digital knowledge in regards to public space, while deepening her understanding in creative processes to develop cross-disciplinary outcomes. During the last year, she has been involved in the creation of two urban games prototypes, Anxcity, and Snake City. They both represent games based on interaction and participation design. Besides, they empower people to experience public spaces and test the feelings of trust that they have for each other and for the technology itself.

During 2018, she worked as a researcher for the IHS and UCL team in a DFID funded SITU project – Spatial Inequality in Times of Urban Transition: Complex Land Markets in Uganda and Somaliland. In the meanwhile, she developed her master thesis by studying social exclusions among minorities and vulnerable groups and how socio-cultural discriminations prevent individuals from accessing resources and infrastructure. Thanks to this professional experience, she learnt how to analyze socio-economic, legal and cultural barriers in a vulnerable context and to understand the power of engagement and empowerment to enhance future inclusive systems.

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Giulia is the Assistant Project Manager at City Space Architecture in the project A-Place. Linking places through networked artistic practices (2020) co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission, dedicated to strengthening the bonds between people and places (2019-2023). In particular, she assists the management of the international film festival “Urban Vision. Beyond the Ideal City” which includes a competition for short films, with sections dedicated to specific themes and several travelling cinema events, enhanced with exhibitions, public talks and art-based performances.