GPIA Alumni by Sector: Urban Development
Sector: Government, Urban
Name: Oscar Romero
Degree: MA International Affairs 2017
Title: Chief Information Officer of the NYC Civic Engagement Commission
Oscar’s work focuses on building innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystems to address urban inequality across NYC by leveraging civic engagement, emerging technology, and global partnerships. He oversees the design, management, and evaluation of global multi-stakeholder partnerships to address diverse urban development challenges in the US’ largest urban economy. Ranging from issues on displacement, safety, access to social services, workforce development, access to STEAM education, access to representation, housing rights, accessible mental health services, and access to critical infrastructure.
Sector and Region: Government, Urban, Asia
Name: Melissa De la Cruz
Degree: MA International Affairs 2017
Title: Special Projects Manager, Cebu City Government;
Interim Head Secretariat, Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council
Melissa R. De la Cruz is a civic researcher and designer crafting better experiences for the residents of her hometown, Cebu City. Since returning to the Philippines in 2020, she established CoLab, the country’s first Strategic Design Unit, and launched education pilots in the city. In her current role as Special Projects Manager and Head Secretariat for the City’s Disaster Council manages the interests of the City’s ₱2 billion peso Local Disaster Fund.
Sector: Urban, Non-Governmental Organizations
Name: Maria Carrizosa
Degree: MS International Affairs 2016
Title: Associate Director for Global Housing Policy, Habitat for Humanity International
Maria is an urban informality researcher. Her work is published as a book titled Homes at Work (Routledge, 2023). Prior to joining Habitat for Humanity International, she was Assistant Director of the Observatory on Latin America at The New School. She is also part-time faculty at The New School and at the School of Architecture at CUNY’s City College of New York.
Sector: Academia, Urban
Name: Laura S Wainer
Degree: MA International Affairs 2015
Title: Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, The Bernard & Anne Spitzer School of Architecture and The City College of New York, CUNY
Laura Wainer is an urbanist focused on the intersection between housing and urban policy, design politics, and governance. Her work and projects aim at building bridges between academia, activism, and professional practice in design.​
Sector and Region: Urban, Europe
Name: Anamaria Vrabie
Degree: MA International Affairs 2014
Title: Founder of Urban Insights Center
Anamaria Vrabie is a leading practitioner in the field of urban innovation in Romania and internationally. She is Founder of Urban Insights Center and has a track record of engaging with urban innovation and cultural development in Cluj, Bucharest, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Genoa and other cities in Europe. She currently supports European cities in developing strategic action plans and transferring good practices related to integrated urban development, acting as lead expert for two core programmes of the European Commission: URBACT and the European Urban Initiative.
Sector and Region: Urban, Non-Governmental Organizations, Africa
Name: Skye Dobson
Degree: MA International Affairs 2011
Title: Director, Slum Dwellers International, Cape Town, South Africa
Dobson, originally from Australia, works with Slum Dwellers International (SDI), a network that brings together slum dweller social movements in more than 30 countries. She specializes in M&E for social movements and the use of community-gathered data for inclusive and collaborative urban planning. Dobson has applied these concepts to the field of climate change adaptation and resilience planning and has published a number of articles on these topics.