Stefano Boeri, architect and urban planner, is Professor of Urban Planning at Politecnico di Milano and heads the Future City Lab at Tongji University in Shanghai, a post-doctoral research programme that anticipates the mutation of planetary metropolises, from the biodiversity and urban forestry perspective. He has been a visiting professor at several international universities such as Harvard University Graduate School of Design, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam and the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio. He is President of the Scientific Committee of Forestami, the urban forestry project in the Milanese metropolitan area. Since 2018 he has been President of Triennale Milano.

Alice Rawsthorn—born in Manchester and based in London—is an award-winning design critic and author of books on design, including Hello World: Where Design Meets Life, Design as an Attitude and, most recently, Design Emergency: Building a Better Future. She is a co-founder with Paola Antonelli of the Design Emergency project to investigate design's role as a force for positive change. In all her work, Alice champions design's potential to address complex social, political and ecological challenges.