LEOPA

Sabina

LEOPA

Ad-Hoc Expert

Generic Skills

B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:

My educational background provided a very strong knowledge base, effectively focusing my professional activities in the field of integrated and sustainable planning and development from the beginning of my professional career. I have graduated a 4-year bachelor’s degree programme in urban planning and design (2011), followed by a master’s degree in spatial planning and regional development (2013). I am currently enrolled in PhD studies at the „Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucharest, Romania, developing my thesis on the topic of multi-level governance mechanisms for integrated metropolitan planning. Professional experience with policy and practice of sustainable urban development (SUD) started in 2013 in URBASOFIA, through an EU-funded project, when I began assisting cities implement Article 7 of ERDF - co-developing the Integrated Territorial Agenda of Kavala (which became the source of their ITI strategy), Alba Iulia and Baia Mare Metropolitan Area. Since then, I have had the opportunity to work, in a wide range of urban contexts in the EU, while consistently applying a methodology fostering integration, local rooting, participatory governance and co-development, financial feasibility and sustainability of proposals for cities, including through well-structured monitoring frameworks. As one example, I have been the expert Urban Planner for the Integrated SUD Strategy of the Cluj Metropolitan Area (2017), applying the above.

B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:

In the last 6 years, I have consistently worked in international consortia of organisations with mixed expertise, most notably in Research and Innovation (FP7, Horizon 2020) and transnational cooperation projects (South East Europe, URBACT, Danube Transnational Programme). Through the SEE “STATUS” project (2012-2014), I have been part of the content management team, assisting partners to develop their policy and planning outputs and share their lessons learned. My core expertise is twofold: 1) supporting wide city / public administration partnerships to implement sustainable urban development, and 2) working with pilot cities in R&I projects, providing methodologies, supporting their analysis, implementation of pilot actions and living labs, assessment, exchange and capitalization. Specifically in the last years, I have dedicated attention explicitly to strengthening the bridges between front-runner and follower cities, and between more developed and less developed region cities, in various transnational projects. Furthermore, capacity is critical for the success of exchange processes. As the leader of Capacity Building (DTP “ATTRACTIVE DANUBE”) and Training (ICT-PSP SUNSHINE) actions, I have brought my contribution to creating structured programmes for facilitating learning and exchange between administrations. Lastly, I am supporting learning processes of young professionals in an international setting, (co-organizing the Urban Thinking Festival 2018, Brasov)

B.3. Proficiency in English:

Through my educational and professional experiences, I have gained an excellent command of the English language, both spoken and written. I have obtained the TOEFL Academic iBT (internet Based Test) certification in 2011 with a near-perfect 118/120 score. Since 2013, working in URBASOFIA in a multi-national environment (Romanian, Italian, Hungarian), specifically on transnational proposal design and project implementation, I have had the opportunity to improve my proficiency even further. The main language I use in my daily work-related interactions is English, and I am well-versed in the professional language specifics used in the European projects context. I have written a series of proposals for transnational and R&I projects (among the successful ones: YPLAN - Young Placemakers Initiative, Swiss-Romanian grants; CLEVER - Danube Transnational Programme SMF) as well as contributed with significant parts to successful Horizon 2020 and Interreg proposals. Furthermore, I regularly produce official reports and deliverables (public) for the projects I am involved in. As a testimony to my proficiency, during a yearly review with the Commission on an CIP ICT-PSP project I was Communication WP leader for (SUNSHINE), URBASOFIA has been allotted more personnel effort by the Project Officer, specifically for reviewing and quality-checking all other reports and outputs produced by the project.

Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:

Thematic expertise:

Theme / Policy:

Urban Strategic Planning

Summary Thematic expertise:

I have a strong academic background in Urban and Regional planning, both through my bachelor as well as master’s studies (Bucharest, Romania), having worked on national-level strategic planning and development projects led by the Ion Mincu university research center as early as 2012. I am also currently a PhDc studying the topic of integrated metropolitan planning, and a university assistant, specifically on strategic planning projects and seminars. My international experience started in 2013, and through URBASOFIA I have been involved as an urban planning expert in the development of various integrated Urban / Metropolitan Strategies (Baia Mare, Alba Iulia, Cluj-Napoca - Romania; Kavala - Greece), as well as the development of methodologies to support cities to implement integrated strategic urban planning processes in parallel in 10 different cities and regions in Greece, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Moldova (SEE STATUS Project) and urban analyses / preparation of urban regeneration plans in 7 other cities (through Horizon 2020 proGIreg). I have developed planning studies, analyses, strategies and action plans for an ample array of cities and specific local situations, while also having first-hand experience in supporting URBACT cities on this specific topic (eg. assistant to the lead expert in TUTUR; contracted assistance for Cluj-Napoca - REFILL, Baia Mare - sub>urban).

Theme / Policy:

Research, Innovation and Knowledge Economy

Theme / Policy:

Local Governance

Summary Thematic expertise:

Coming from a planning background and currently developing my PhD research (Complex Governance in the Planning of Metropolitan Areas: The Operational Framework for Integrated Sustainable Development Policies), I have been working on the topic of governance with public administrations, specifically at local level, since 2013. My experience stems from both transnational projects as well as direct expertise contracts, (in URBASOFIA and as a stand-alone consultant), assisting local administrations to implement participatory development processes and desiging implementation frameworks for integrated strategies (Cluj-Napoca), tourism and heritage strategies (Constanta), as well as SUMPs (Hunedoara, Iernut, Hateg, RO). Through the SEE STATUS Project, I have assisted 10 municipalities in the South-Eastern Europe to set up their Strategic Agenda implementation frameworks, to build Urban Task Forces and to launch and manage Urban Centers, as interfaces between administration and citizens. I have worked in transnational projects on the topic through INTERREG, both in implementation of projects under the Governance priority (ATTRACTIVE DANUBE, leading the development of a Handbook for Policy Planners) as well as designing proposals (successful SMF proposal CLEVER, and more recently AGORA, in evaluation). My first-hand knowledge of smart instruments for improving decision making further adds to my experience in multi-level governance, participation and co-production strategies.