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This seminar is a continuation of the conversation on Nurturing Infrastructures of Care that will be kicked off at the upcoming American Association of Geographers’ Annual Meeting in Detroit by Dr. Chiara Camponeschi, Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the DIGHR. 

We’ll be hearing from two speakers, Dr. Jesper Christiansen and Javier Vergara Petrescu, whose pioneering work on social and public innovation spans countries, cultures, and sectors. Hailing from Denmark and Chile respectively, these renowned and award-winning experts bring a wealth of applied knowledge to the work of fostering transformative systems change in the face of complex and interconnected issues.

Dr. Jespersen will reflect on his journey at the heart of the movement for global public innovation, sharing insights gleaned from decades spent helping municipal and national governments, as well as UN and international development agencies, implement a “transformation infrastructure” in support of the implementation of more responsive and equitable solutions to the polycrisis. Mr. Vergara Petrescu will continue the conversation with an overview of a range of promising co-design methodologies and place-based interventions that improve urban livability and sustainability, build inclusive communities, and strengthen processes of citizen participation in developing cities. He’ll focus, in particular, on preliminary findings from two ongoing projects: Santiago Zero Carbon, which brings together low and high technologies to accelerate participatory climate solutions, and Urban95, which is building a ‘caring neighbourhood’ and transforming spaces for children and caregivers through the Proximity of Care model. 

Common to both speakers is the pursuit of an interdisciplinary approach to critical problem-solving that fundamentally shifts institutional and organisational governance ecosystems while also advancing mission-based, multilevel collaborations that place a strong emphasis on community engagement and shared ownership. 

Given the wide applicability and scalability of the approaches and methodologies being introduced, this seminar may be especially interesting to members of the DIGHR community working in the areas of global health foresighting and planetary health, though we welcome the participation of students and scholars from all disciplines.

Speaker Profile

Jesper Christiansen – Director of Programs, Bikuben Foundation & Co-Founder, States of Change (Denmark)

Jesper holds a PhD in Anthropology from Aarhus University. He has a long track-record of working with ambitious governments, public organisations and international institutions to deliver better policy outcomes and achieve meaningful systems transformation. At Bikuben Foundation, Jesper leads projects that create more inclusive service systems for and with marginalized youth. He also leads international collaborations focused on rethinking the role of foundations as catalysts of systems change. Within , Jesper continues to build the next generation of public innovation learning. In this capacity, he has been leading multiple strategic partnerships with the governments of Canada, Colombia, UAE and Australia, among others, as well as with international institutions such as the UNDP, OECD and the EU Commission.  Jesper has additionally worked for pioneering organizations like MindLab–the cross-ministerial innovation unit of the Government of Denmark––as well as UK innovation foundation Nesta and the Australian public design outfit Thinkplace. Throughout his career, Jesper has focused on blending inclusive social research with public innovation, rethinking policy design and government interventions to create better outcomes with and for the most marginalized and vulnerable people of society.

Javier Vergara Petrescu – Founder and Executive Director, Ciudad Emergente (Chile)

Javier is an architect who holds a MSc City Design & Social Sciences from the London School of Economics. As Founder and Executive Director of , Javier specializes in social innovation, citizen participation and technologies applied to the city, working in Latin America, Europe and the United States. He is also Co-founder of and , and in 2006 he was chosen one of the 100 Young Leaders of Chile by the Center for Strategic Leadership of the Adolfo Ibáñez University. Javier is a regular lecturer at universities across North and South America, and has been a guest lecturer onTactical Urbanism at Columbia University and the Latin Graduate School of Design at Harvard. His work with Ciudad Emergente has been exhibited in multiple cities, including the MoMA in New York. For his work with Ciudad Emergente, he received the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honor Award in 2021, one of the most prestigious awards given by the United Nations to projects that promote sustainable urbanization in the world.

Register below and join us on Wednesday, April 2, at 1:00 p.m. ET

RSVP