Meet The Team
Flora Jacolin
Outreach
After studied literature and geography, Flora (she/her) discovered the urban studies with the Ecole Urbaine de Lyon. The perspectives provided were decisive in her understanding of current global and local issues. Arrived in Brussels in 2020, she encountered Women in Urbanism through an internship and engaged to be part of the change.
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Early experiences of sexism made her aware of the multitude and addition of inequalities and dominations shaping our society. Intersectional feminism became a fundamental lens to read the world, as patriarchal thinking conditions how spaces are conceived and lived today, modulating individual behaviours and social expressions in reverse. Flora believes in the urgency to make room for inaudible voices, for “other” ways of looking, doing and living, for alternative narratives manifesting off-centre ways to be in the world, phenomenologically.
Urban Policy
Ronika Postaria
Ronika is an Urban Planner and Designer keen on People-oriented design and Sustainable development. She is inclined toward making cities inclusive and liveable by concentrating on the correlation between the public realm, gender, and age. She is also enthusiastic about Climate Action and research.
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At Women in Urbanism, Ronika is the Urban Policy lead, focusing primarily on people's tangible and intangible interactions with spaces and how that affects the gendered aspects of our cities. She is also affiliated with various other research and planning organisations, where she works on urban development, future cities, behavioural research, and policy formulation projects. Ronika also advocates for PlacemakingX, supporting innovative urban design and placemaking initiatives worldwide.
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Ronika holds an MSc in International Planning with a specialisation in Urban Design from University College London (UCL). Her past research pieces explored people's experience of the city through public spaces, the influence of street patterns on non-motorised travel behaviour, and the impact of digitalisation in the education sector.
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Outside of work, Ronika enjoys photography, reading, and storytelling.
Programme Development
Rosie Romero
​Meet Rosaura, aka Rosie, a queer Salvadorian, cis woman (she/her). She considers herself to be an activist, educator and community builder within the design profession, redirecting her attention to projects that are for social justice. Rosie dedicates her efforts to closing power gaps by altering design practices and enabling design processes where the "power to design" becomes a tool for expression for the least powerful bodies in society. She takes an active role in shaping environments and communities by fostering open dialogues, storytelling, and creating connections that inspire community agency and commitment. With her privilege as an academic and designer, as well as her personal experiences as a migrant to the United States and Belgium, Rosie positions herself in moments of engagement to facilitate the creation of projects, collectives, and platforms that recognize intersectionality in the diversity of identities.
Communications
Xantha Langhendries
Meet Xantha, a 26-year-old urban planner with a passion for creating livable and sustainable communities. She has a Bachelors Degree in Business Economics and a Masters Degree in Urbanisme and Spatial Planning. Both were obtained at the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) in Brussels, Belgium. She now lives in the periphery of the Brussels Region.
Xantha supports “Women in Urbanism” because of their vision and important work that has to be done. Women have historically been underrepresented in the field of urban planning and design, but there has been a growing recognition of the need for diverse perspectives in shaping our cities. The inclusion of women in urbanism is crucial for creating more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable cities that meet the needs of all residents.
With experience in the public sector, Xantha has a deep understanding of the complex challenges faced by cities and a commitment to finding innovative solutions. She finished an internship at the European Parliament before working at the Department of Mobility and Public works in Leuven, Belgium