Keynote speakers

FEDERICO ZANFI

Federico Zanfi is an architect and Associate Professor of Urbanism at Politecnico di Milano, where he coordinates the master’s degree program in Landscape Architecture. He serves on the board of the PhD program in Urbanism at the IUAV University in Venice. His design and research focus on the transformations of contemporary cities and territories in response to socioeconomic and environmental shifts, with a particular emphasis on adapting the built environment. He has carried out scientific consultancy for the drafting of urban plans for cities such as Modena (2016-2019) and Lecce (2022-2024). Among his recent books: What’s Next for Mom and Dad’s House? Essays on the Single-Family Housing Type and Its Future (with M. Tattara, Spector Books, 2024); Urbanistica per una città media. Esperienze a Modena (with P. Gabellini, C. Merlini and P. Savoldi, FrancoAngeli, 2023); Ricomporre i divari. Politiche e progetti territoriali contro le disuguaglianze e per la transizione ecologica (with A. Coppola, M. Del Fabbro, A. Lanzani and G. Pessina, Il Mulino, 2021).

DAVID MALAUD 

David Malaud is a French architect and theorist, Doctor of Architecture from the ENSA Versailles/ Paris-Saclay University and head of research at TVK, a Parisian office of architecture and urban design. His phD on architectural creativity led to the exhibition “Architects at Play,” and the book L’architecte joueur, ou le saisissement du monde (Infolio, 2023). Along with his work on imagination and representation, he directs research centered around TVK’s practice and projects, resulting in various collective articles and books such as The Earth is an architecture (2021), and Paris Porte Pouchet. Ex Materia (2025). TVK aims to adapt architectural and urban theory to contemporary ecological challenges by conducting research around the theme of terrestrial infrastructure. This work addresses notions such as urban soil ecology, practices of transformation and territorial foresight in the face of climate challenges. These topics are also essential to his teaching as an associate professor at the ENSA-Nancy.

ILARIA CONGIA, BENEDETTA FALCONE

Ilaria Congia is a qualified Senior Architect and Director in LAND Italia specialized in Landscape design and public spaces planning at every scale. After studying and working in countries such as China, Brazil, Spain, and the Netherlands, she started collaborating with LAND in 2014. Since then, she has been managing international projects and masteplans and taken part at every step for the creation of large-scale cultural and environmental landscape architecture projects, starting from the strategic concept and continuing with preliminary, developed, and technical design. She has also a key role in supporting public administrations to promote projects to citizens and to other stakeholders during all the design phases. Benedetta Falcone graduated with honours in Architecture from IUAV University in Venice, specialising in Landscape Architecture. She continued her academic journey with a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Politecnico di Milano and enriched her education through the Erasmus+ programme at ENSAP Marne-la-Vallée in Paris. Between September 2021 and August 2022, while completing her master’s thesis, she collaborated with Mosbach Paysagistes in Paris, gaining valuable experience in managing landscape design projects across multiple scales. Since November 2022, Benedetta has been collaborating with LAND Italia, contributing to a wide range of landscape transformation projects at different scales. In parallel, since September 2023, she has served as a teaching assistant for the master’s course Landscape Design and Infrastructures at Politecnico di Milano, under the supervision of Professor Paolo Bozzuto. This role allows her to share expertise and foster a continuous exchange between professional practice and academic research.