Professor Ricky Burdett is a recognised world authority in urban development and design, contemporary architecture, and the social and spatial dynamics of cities. He leads LSE Cities, a global centre of research and teaching at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is co-chair of the Council on Urban Initiatives, was Chief Advisor on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics and its legacy and is a jury member of the 2024 Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize.

Aziza Chaouni is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Toronto and the founding principal of the design practice Aziza Chaouni Projects (ACP) with offices in Fez, Morocco and Toronto, Canada.

Chaouni’s practice, research and teaching focus on sustainable design and construction and collaborative design approaches in the global south. She is also interested in the integration of architecture and landscape, particularly through the implementation of sustainable technologies in arid climates. 

Chaouni’s design work has been recognised by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, the Architectural League of New York Young Architects Award, Environmental Design Research Association Great Places Award; the American Society of Landscape Architects Design Awards, the ACSA Collaboration Award, and others. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally. 

Chaouni holds a masters of architecture with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Civil Engineering from Columbia University.

Günther Vogt trained at the Gartenbauschule Oeschberg, which provided the practical basis for his intensive landscape work. His knowledge of vegetation and skills in cultivation continue to be the cornerstones of his work. Later, his studies at the Interkantonales Technikum Rapperswil combined the disciplines of culture, design and natural sciences.

In 2000, he founded Vogt Landscape Architects, which emerged from an office partnership with Dieter Kienast. With projects such as the Tate Modern in London, Allianz Arena in Munich and the Masoala Rainforest Hall at the Zurich Zoo, the firm has achieved international recognition and has offices in Zurich, Berlin, London and Paris. Its work is characterised by a dialogue between various disciplines and a close cooperation with artists.

Since 2005, Vogt has been pursuing a combination of teaching, practice and research with his chair at the Institute of Landscape Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. As a passionate collector and keen traveler, he is looking for ways to read, interpret and describe landscapes, and finding answers to questions about the future forms of urban coexistence. In 2012, Vogt was awarded the Prix Meret Oppenheim by the Federal Office of Culture.