Mara Balestrini (PhD) will present examples about how communities of citizens have worked together to measure air quality, odour or noise pollution and the impact of environmental factors on their health, and how such participatory practices can help to shape the future of our cities from the bottom up.

She will present examples of how communities of citizens have worked together to measure air quality, odour or noise pollution and the impact of environmental factors on their health, and how such participatory practices can help to shape the future of our cities from the bottom up.

About Mara Balestrini

Mara is a digital social innovation consultant and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) scholar. Her work sits at the intersection of data technologies, strategy and co-creation. She has authored over 30 publications on these subjects. Mara has been a cabinet advisor to the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence at the Spanish Government and CEO of the innovation consultancy firm Ideas for Change. She earned a PhD in Computer Science from the Intel Collaborative Research Institute on Sustainable Connected Cities (ICRI-Cities) at University College London (UCL). She also holds a BA in Audiovisual Communications and a MSc in Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media. She is Adjunct faculty at IE Business school and the IAAC and has been a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art (RCA). Her work has been awarded at ACM CHI, ACM CSCW, Ars Electronica, among others, and featured in international media such as the BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times and El País.