Thomas Stellmach

Thomas Stellmach is a thought leader for sustainable urban development. He is best known as the founder of TSPA Making Cities, and as a planning expert for UN-Habitat. Born in Freiburg, Germany, he studied Architecture at TU Berlin and UPC Barcelona, graduating in 2003. His focus of interest is a sustainable urban development in a transforming world. Since 2001 Thomas teaches and researches sustainable urban planning in an international context. Thomas conceived Europe’s then-largest city extension project, “project a101” in Moscow, and supervised London’s 110 ha Barking Riverside neighbourhood development for Maxwan a+u in Rotterdam. He worked on the strategic plan for the 8 million people of Germany’s challenged Ruhr region, the plan for Astana’s Expo 2017 and city transformation projects in Baghdad and Moscow, as well as a spatial concept for Paris’ precarious banlieue districts and the competition-winning concept for Berlin’s central library and adjacent neighbourhood. He supports UN-Habitat as an expert for sustainable urban development and has coordinated city extension and infill projects in the Philippines, Rwanda, and Mozambique, with a focus on urban resilience towards climate change. He is a sought-after facilitator for planning workshops and has recently trained planning professionals and city leaders in Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Rwanda. Thomas is a member of the international organisation of planning professionals isocarp, the smart city network Berlin and has recently been appointed by the governing mayor of Berlin as a member of the strategic advisory board of Berlin’s Smart City project. In 2016 he founded the housing cooperative urban coop Berlin to develop affordable housing solutions for the city.