The Real Play City challenge Jury has three rounds. The first round is a technical committee. The second round, a Nomination jury consisting of five experts in child-friendly, safe and playful urban practice. Finally, the third round, the Winners Jury panel consists of six renowned global city leaders.

Nomination jury members:

Sara Candiracci
Mark Ojal
Hannah Wright
Jens Aerts
Helen Hadani

Chair: Viviana Cordero

Winners jury members:

Cecilia Vaca Jones
Norliza Hashim
Bo Stjerne Thomsen
Louise Thivant-Johannsen
Alice Charles
Lauren Sorkin

Chair: Ethan Kent

Photo credit: Omar Aboutaleb

Winners jury

Chair: Ethan Kent - PlacemakingX

Cecilia Vaca Jones

Executive Director, Bernard van Leer Foundation

Cecilia has over 20 years of experience managing social development policies and programmes. Prior to becoming the Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, she was the Minister of Social Development of Ecuador from 2013 to 2016. She championed policies to improve the conditions of children, women and indigenous communities, including a cross-sectoral policy for ECD. Cecilia has also worked for several civil society organizations.

Norliza Hashim

Chief Executive of Urbanice Malaysia

Norliza Hashim is the Chief Executive of Urbanice Malaysia, a Centre of Excellence for Urban Well-being and Sustainability of Malaysia, under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government Malaysia. Norliza led the team of Local Secretariat for World Urban Forum 9 hosted by Malaysia in 2018 working alongside UN-Habitat to address the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
Town Planner, Principal and Founder of AJM Planning and Urban Design Group Sdn Bhd.

Bo Stjerne Thomsen

Vice-President and Chair of Learning through Play at the LEGO Foundation

The LEGO Foundation strives to bring play and learning through play to children around the world by working to redefine play and re-imagine learning. Bo Stjerne spent 9 years building the research agenda and organizational expertise on children’s development, play and learning, and advising international organizations and government agencies on research implementation.

Loiuse Thivant-Johansen

Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) Advisor and Child Participation Specialist, UNICEF

Louise Thivant-Johannsen has been functioning as UNICEF’s CFCI Advisor since January 2016. Her main contributions have been in the promotion of the CFCI locally and globally. Ms Thivant-Johannsen guides and advises local governments and other stakeholders on implementing the CFCI as well as on strengthening the voice of children and young people in decision-making processes.

Alice Charles

Cities and Real Estate Industry Lead, World Economic Forum

Alice Charles leads the Cities workstream and the Real Estate Industry at the World Economic Forum. This includes the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization, the Real Estate Industry Action Group, the Systemic Efficiency Transitioning Energy & Buildings initiative, the production of all cities and real estate related content and events at World Economic Forum Summits (including Davos).

Lauren Sorkin

Executive Director, Global Resilient Cities Network

As Executive Director of the Global Resilient Cities Network, Lauren oversees global efforts to strengthen cities in the face of the complex and interconnected challenges they face. Leading a team of professionals in London, Mexico City, New York, and Singapore in collaboration with Chief Resilience Officers in more than 40 countries, she drove the co-design process to launch Global Resilient Cities Network as an independent city-led network.

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Cecilia Vaca Jones

Executive Director of Bernard van Leer Foundation

Norliza Hashim

Chief Executive of Urbanice Malaysia

Bo Stjerne Thomsen

Vice-President and Chair of Learning through Play at the LEGO Foundation

Lousie Thivant-Johannsen

Child-Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) Advisor and Child Participation Specialist, UNICEF

Alice Charles

Project Lead of Cities, Infrastructure and Urban Services Platform, World Economic Forum Geneva

Lauren Sorkin

Executive Director of Global Resilient Cities Network

Nomination jury

Chair: Viviana Cordero - Huasipichanga

Jens Aerts

Senior Urban Planner and Associate Partner at BUUR

Jens Aerts is senior urban planner and associate partner at BUUR - Bureau for Urbanism, specialized in sustainable urban development programs. He has 20 years of experience, working with international development agencies, city governments, developers and non-for-profit organizations on the intersection of practice, policy and research.
He authored the UNICEF publication ‘Shaping urbanization for children’.

Sara Candirracci

Associate Director in the International Development group and member of the Leadership Team of Arup

She is Associate Director in the International Development group and member of the Leadership Team of Arup. She leads the work on inclusive and resilient cities and on child-centred design and planning. She joined Arup in 2017 and has been working and living in different countries in Latin America, Africa and South East Asia.

Dr. Helen Hadani

Fellow at the Brookings Institution

An expert in early childhood and creativity development, Dr. Hadani designs and evaluates products and environments that promote children’s curiosity and love of learning. As a fellow at the Brookings Institution, she leads the Playful Learning Landscapes project—an initiative that brings together the fields of developmental science and placemaking with the goal of improving child and community outcomes.

Mark Ojal

Urban Designer and Placemaking Expert at UN-Habitat

Mark Ojal is Urban Designer and Placemaking Expert at UN-Habitat (United Nations
Human Settlements Programme). He loves championing unlikely alliances. He connects ideas, people and places – bringing together policy makers, professionals, civil society leaders and community groups to a collective understanding of common urban challenges and overlapping agendas. Professionally, he is an urbanist and a mobiliser.

Hannah Wright

Urban Planner and Knowledge Integrator, PlacemakingX

Hannah Wright is an independent urban planner and knowledge integrator with specialist and international expertise in child-friendly planning and design. She has 10 years' experience working at the interaction of research and practice to create and advocate for safe, green and healthy places that enable children and families to thrive.

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Jens Aerts

Dr. Helen Hadani

Sara Candirracci

Senior Urban Planner and Associate Partner at BUUR

Mark Ojal

Associate Director in the International Development group and member of the Leadership Team of Arup

Hannah Wright

Fellow at the Brookings Institution

Urban Designer and Placemaking Expert at

UN-Habitat

Urban Planner & Integrator and leader at PlacemakingX

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Sara Candirracci

Associate Director in the International Development group and member of the Leadership Team of Arup She is Associate Director in the International Development group and member of the Leadership Team of Arup. She leads the work on inclusive and resilient cities and on child-centred design and planning. She joined Arup in 2017 and has been working and living in different countries in Latin America, Africa and South East Asia.