Affordable Housing
Allan Cain
Founding Director of Development Workshop Angola
Allan Cain O.C. is the founding director of Development Workshop Angola and has been a Visiting Professor at the School for International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. He is an architect, specialist in project management, participatory planning, sustainable urban development and water & sanitation. He has lived and worked in Africa for the last 35 years and has acquired a deep understanding of the local environment and development initiatives. He has a degree in Environmental Studies, did his professional studies at the Architectural Association (London, UK) and further specialist studies at Harvard University and Bolder, Colorado. Allan Cain was awarded an Order of Canada in 2004 for his work in international development and contribution to peacebuilding in Angola. He has also won several other awards for his work in international development. He has over 35 years of professional experience in developing countries. He has worked as a consultant and lead research projects for the World Bank, UN Habitat the European Union and other international organisations. He is the DW project leader on the International Development Research Centre supported programme on Climate Change, Flooding and Water-Supply in Angola's Coastal Cities. He has led projects, beneficiary and affordability assessments; indicator mapping; social and environmental impact assessments; and policy and advocacy programs. Allan has lectured at universities in Canada, China, Angola, Norway, USA, South Africa and UK. He is a member of the advisory board for Environment & Urbanism Journal of the International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED) and on the boards of several other development institutions. His articles and papers have been published widely in international journals.
Benjamin Gianni (Vice-President)
Professor, and Coordinator, Urbanism Program, Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism, Carleton University
Dr. Benjamin Gianni is an Associate Professor in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University where he heads the Urbanism program. Mr. Gianni received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Arch. from Yale University. He served as Director of the School of Architecture at Carleton University from 1992-2000 and Director of the School of Information Technology from 2003-2006. Professor Gianni’s research interests focus on the areas of housing and urban development. Of particular interest are 1) public housing constructed in the decades following WWII in Europe and North America, and its redevelopment from the 1990s onward, 2) urbanization, suburbanization and the study of large-scale housing ensembles in contemporary China, questioning the legacy of modernism and its transposition to different cultural and temporal contexts, and 3) the redevelopment of informal settlements in China, India and Africa, using design as a form of research to explore adaptable, culturally resonant and market-friendly approaches to redevelopment.
Kecia Rust
Executive Director of the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF), South Africa
Zhi Liu
Director of China program, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Peking University, China
Zhi Liu, a specialist in infrastructure and its financing, is director of the China program at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy in Beijing, China. Previously as an infrastructure specialist at the World Bank, he had operational experience mainly in East Asia and South Asia, where he managed investment lending projects and analytical and advisory activities in the infrastructure and urban sectors. Before joining the World Bank, he was a research associate with the Harvard Institute for International Development. He also taught city and regional planning as a faculty member at Nanjing University. He has authored and co-authored a number of academic papers and World Bank reports on topics including metropolitan infrastructure financing, low-carbon city development, sustainable urban transport, motorization, and poverty and transport. He holds a B.S. from Zhongshan University, an M.S. from Nanjing University, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In 2010, he served as vice chair of the Global Agenda Council for the Future of Transportation, World Economic Forum. In 2015–16, he served as a member of the Expert Committee for China’s 13th Five-Year National Social and Economic Development Plan.
Patricia Roset-Zuppa
VP Policy, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Canada
Patricia Roset-Zuppa is Vice-President, Policy at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). She joined CMHC in 2009 and has held various positions in strategic policy coordination, housing finance policy and federal/provincial/territorial relations. Patricia played a lead role in the development of Canada’s first ever National Housing Strategy that is aimed to build inclusive communities with housing that meets the needs of Canadians and that they can afford. Prior to joining CMHC, Patricia worked in residential real estate, affordable housing policy and applied urban research in Canada and the United States. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Florida, an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University, and Masters in Geography from Utrecht University in the Netherlands where she was born and raised. She is an immigrant to Canada and proud Canadian and Dutch dual citizen. She has a passion for urban design and a love for exploring cities and cultures around the world. She currently lives in Ottawa with her husband and two children.