Born and raised in Milan, Italy, Pietro L. Verga holds a MS in Urban Planning & Policy Design from Milan's Polytechnic and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies from Gran Sasso Science Institute and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the CUNY's Hunter College in New York (2012), at the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space in Berlin (2015), and at the Institute for European Urban Studies of the Bauhaus University in Weimar (2016). As a researcher, Pietro L. Verga pays particular attention to deprived and multiethnic urban neighbourhoods, which he analyses from multiple points of view. Specifically, he focusses on neighbourhoods' socio-economic evolution; on the political and media rhetoric in their representation; and on policies and programmes for participatory community-led regeneration and development. During his doctoral path he also gained significant expertise on European Regional and Social policies, and dedicated his dissertation to the analysis and assessment of the Community-Led Local Development. His works have been presented and discussed in several international conferences and have been published as journal articles, book chapters, working papers and blog entries. As an advisor, Pietro L. Verga applies a holistic approach and a set of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies in order to provide his clients with well informed and scientifically valid studies, assessments, and advices. ​His main fields of expertise include the analysis of the socio-economic features and development trends of urban systems; the analysis and design of urban and social policies; and the design and assessment of local, urban and regional development strategies and programmes. Current work includes nature-based regeneration approaches, participatory planning, and circular ecosystems.