Louisa Contipelli (°1998, Jette) has an interdisciplinary academic background in both exact and social sciences. After her bachelor’s in Architectural Engineering at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, she pursued a double master’s degree in Urban Studies at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Université libre de Bruxelles. During her master she specialized in Urban Geography and Urban Design, supporting her ambition to help create sustainable, liveable, and inclusive environments. The master enabled her to broaden her understanding from the built to the intertwined, multidimensional processes and challenges throughout the entire urban fabric.

With a soft spot for the subjects of climate change and social justice, Louisa concluded her education with a thesis on the environmental justice conditions in Brussels Capital Region related to the greening of the city. To this end, she combined GIS-mapping and interviews to analyse the current urban green provision in relation to vulnerable population groups as well as the perspectives of local stakeholders and the socio-political context with regards to future projects.  

Fresh out of university, Louisa joined Architecture Workroom Brussels as a collaborator in 2022. She is mainly part of projects around the themes of open space and water. Within the framework of the Open Space Platform, she is involved in the process supervision of the programmes Water+Land+Scape, Landscape Parks, and Testing Grounds Drought. She co-organizes working sessions and public events to exchange knowledge and strengthen collaboration between local coalitions, experts and Government departments. Louisa is also part of the core team that created the explorative trajectory for the Living Lab ‘Productive Waterland’ in the Haspengouw (Limburg, BE), where participatory and research trajectories are brought together. Moreover, she enjoys writing for different AWB-publications, such as the Open Space Guide and the article ‘Guardians of Water’ for A+.