Professor Talen is Professor of Urbanism at the University of Chicago and her research is devoted to urban design and urbanism, especially the relationship between the built environment and social equity.

She has a PhD in urban geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research is devoted to urban design and urbanism, especially the relationship between the built environment and social equity. Her books include: New Urbanism and American Planning, Design for Diversity, Urban Design Reclaimed, and City Rules. She also has several edited volumes – the most recent one is Retrofitting Sprawl: Addressing 70 Years of Failed Urban Form. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014-15), and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Her next book is called Neighborhood.

Luís M. A. Bettencourt is the Inaugural Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation and Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, as well as an External Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. He was trained as a theoretical physicist and obtained his undergraduate degree from Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon, Portugal) in 1992, and his PhD from Imperial College (University of London, UK) in 1996 for research in statistical and high-energy physics models of the early Universe.  He has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), Los Alamos National Laboratory (Director’s Fellow and Slansky Fellow) and at MIT (Center for Theoretical Physics). He has worked extensively on complex systems theory and on cities and urbanization, in particular. His research emphasizes the creation of new interdisciplinary synthesis to describe cities in quantitative and predictive ways, informed by classical theory from various disciplines and the growing availability of empirical data worldwide. He is the author of over 100 scientific papers and several edited books. His research has been featured in leading media venues, such as the New York Times, Nature, Wired, New Scientist, and the Smithsonian.

As associate director for programs and education, Brian manages operations of the Mansueto Institute’s programs, including events, fellowships, and support services, and helps develop strategic programs and partnerships within and outside of the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the institute, Brian held roles both in industry and at the University of Chicago, managing social sector programming and lifelong learning for alumni in the Office of Alumni Relations and Development. Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Anthropology from the University of Colorado, a master’s degree in Social Science from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in Anthropological Archaeology from the University of Chicago. His research focused on South Asian colonial urbanism, specifically the processes of abandonment and ruination associated with declining urban environments and the way these spaces come to be reimagined and repurposed by different social groups. He recently authored the book The City of Facades: Archaeology, History, and Urbanism in Velha Goa, published by Primus Books.