External Expert Advisory Board

Federico Scopinich

Landscape architect and planner OTIA/BSLA-FSAP, born in Milan in 1980, Federico Scopinich graduated (Dipl-Ing/MSc) from the Universität für Bodenkultur in Vienna and obtained a specialized master’s degree in Management of Cultural Assets and Activities at ESCP Europe in Paris and Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice. He is General Manager & Partner at LAND Suisse, a company of the LAND Group based in Lugano. Since 2006, he has been involved in urban and landscape design projects across Europe and, more recently, has collaborated with the Politecnico di Milano in DAStU urban planning courses. His work focuses on sustainable urban and regional development, climate-adaptive strategies, and landscape renaturation. A member of the SIA 105 Commission in Zurich, since 2025 he has been part of the Swiss Federal BAFU “Impuls Landschaftsberatung” programme. 

María Angélica Mejía

As a Colombian sustainability practitioner working in the intersection of biodiversity and urban development, she is motivated by the idea of placing nature at the heart of city-making. María has contributed to regional and global initiatives across Latin America, Asia, and, more recently, the European Union, supporting systemic change toward more just and resilient cities.

María is a proud coordinator of BiodiverCities by 2030, a global initiative that laid the foundation for the UN-Habitat Resolution on Biodiverse and Resilient Cities, championed by Colombia and Costa Rica in 2023. Working with more than 80 contributors, she coordinated knowledge products including Wetland City for Latin America and the Caribbean (2025), Transforming Cities with Biodiversity (2022), and Urban Nature: Platform of Experiences (2016). Currently she serves as Technical Advisor to the Independent Advisory Committee of the Wetland City Accreditation under the Ramsar Convention and contribute to other international expert committees.

PD Dr. Joris E. Van Wezemael

PD Dr. Joris E. Van Wezemael is a Swiss–Belgian economic geographer and strategic advisor specializing in process design, negotiation, mediation, and governance in complex transformation contexts. He is the owner and director of de plek Ltd (Switzerland), where he supports public authorities, private actors, and multi-stakeholder constellations in structuring decision-making processes, managing conflicts of interest, and enabling robust, implementable outcomes under conditions of uncertainty. His work focuses on governance challenges in sustainability transitions, spatial and infrastructure development, and contested policy environments, bridging scientific insight with practical institutional design. He has long-standing experience in advisory and sounding-board roles and contributes to dialogue-based approaches that strengthen legitimacy, inclusiveness, and accountability in governance processes. 

Prof. Marta Olazabal

Prof. Marta Olazabal is an interdisciplinary scientist dedicated to advancing climate action in urban environments worldwide. She is an Ikerbasque Research Professor and Ramón y Cajal Fellow at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) in Spain, where she leads the Adaptation Research Group. With over 20 years of expertise in urban sustainability and climate governance, Prof. Olazabal is also the Principal Investigator for the European Research Council-funded IMAGINE Adaptation project. Additionally, she is a Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Cities and Climate Change (AR7).

Sabrina Hoffman

Sabrina Hoffmann works in the Unit for Climate-Resilient Urban Planning within the Department of Urban Development and Planning of the City of Heidelberg. She focuses on urban planning in the context of climate change, developing strategies to protect vulnerable population groups and ensuring that sustainable urban planning is systematically embedded in the everyday administrative practices of municipalities.

Before joining the City of Heidelberg, Sabrina worked as Climate Adaptation Manager for the City of Mannheim, where she developed the city’s first climate adaptation strategy through an interdisciplinary process. Her work further focused on energy-efficient urban regeneration as well as the coordination and implementation of funding programmes. In her previous roles in private planning offices, as well as in project studies in Bogotá/Colombia and Nairobi/Kenya, she consistently focused on sustainable urban development as a collaborative endeavour.

Sabrina studied Geography as well as Urban and Regional Development in Trier, Kaiserslautern and Bogotá.