Speaker detail

Katja Schaefer

As an architect and urban development practitioner, Katja Schäfer has more than twenty years of professional experience in teaching, research, analytical and advisory services, and programme management in the fields of housing, urban development and management, institutional development, and capacity building. She has worked at global, regional, national and local levels, ranging from development contexts to fragile and post-conflict environments, including emergency response, disaster risk reduction, and urban recovery. Her expertise lies in developing innovative, participatory and responsive solutions to urbanization challenges through socially and culturally appropriate, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable interventions, taking into account physical, legislative and financial dimensions. She has been working with UN-Habitat for more than 17 years in field, regional, and headquarters functions. Over the past seven years, she has provided technical support to Member States and local governments in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia to mainstream urbanization into development agendas as an Inter-Regional Advisor. From 2020 to 2022, she led Sub-Programme 1 of UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan 2020–2023, addressing poverty and spatial inequality in urban and rural areas, as well as two global flagship programmes focusing on (1) Inclusive and Vibrant Neighbourhoods and Communities and (2) People-Centred Smart Cities. In this context, she led in an acting capacity the United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC) in Hamburg for two years. Previously, Katja worked for eight years in UN-Habitat’s Regional Office in Cairo supporting programmes in the Arab States. Earlier, she worked as an Urban Heritage Management Expert for GIZ in Sana’a, Yemen; Urban Planner for UN-Habitat in Hargeisa, Somaliland; and City Rehabilitation Advisor for UN-Habitat in Galle, Sri Lanka. Katja holds an MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development from the Development Planning Unit (DPU), University College London, and a degree in Architecture and City and Regional Planning from Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Germany.