Barbara Engel (Prof. Dr.) is an architect and urban planner. She held a senior position at the Dresden Urban Planning Office before becoming Professor of International Urban Planning and Design at Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). Her research interests include urban development in Eastern Europe, »(post-) socialist urbanism« and metropolitan areas in the MENA region. She is vice president of the German Academy of Urban and Regional Planning (DASL), head of the design committee in Nuremberg and associate member of the Saxonian Academy of Arts. She is involved in various committees for building culture, such as the expert jury for national projects of the Städteaus and the advisory board for building culture of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Nikolas Rogge is an architect and international researcher with more than 15 years of experience in housing, urban development, and participatory design. He specialises in spatial transformation processes and the pursuit of equitable living conditions across diverse cultural, social, and planning contexts. Bridging research, teaching and practice, his work explores how housing, open spaces, and governance structures shape everyday life and urban equity. He is a senior researcher at Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) and holds a Diplom in Architecture from Technische Universität Dresden.