Laura Petrella

Laura Petrella is the Leader of the City Planning, Extension and Design Unit at UN-Habitat since 2012. She is also OIC of the Urban Planning and Design Branch. She is an architect and urban planner trained at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia IUAV, in Italy. She has a wide range experience in urban development work, capacity development for local authorities and managing of local planning processes. The Urban Planning and Design Branch works to promote sustainable planning practice through global, regional and local initiatives.
As Unit leader, Laura supervises the UN-Habitat Urban Planning LAB, the Public Space Programme as well as Capacity Development activities in Urban Planning, with activities in several countries and cities across the globe. In the past she has worked on slum upgrading, on environmental planning and management and on urban safety with UN-Habitat where she was in charge of UN-Habitat’s Safer Cities Programme from 2002 to 2010. She has advised and collaborated with local and national governments, civil society and academia in Italy, Kenya, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, Brazil, Haiti, Mexico, Philippines among other countries.