Urban INC stands for Urban Insights Center and is an organisation founded in Bucharest, Romania in June 2010, which generates resources for city alliances of public and non-public actors to tackle new challenges related to uncertainty and complexity.
We work in an experimental manner in order to test new approaches that provide urban changemakes with the capacities they need to sustain systemic changes in their local communities. Our programmes are structured around four strategic areas, offering:
- Capacity – proving (or creating the enabling environment) financial and non-financial resources.
- Capability – developing knowledge, fostering action-research.
- Connecting – creating the context for networking and alliance building
- Credibility – acknowledging emerging practices and celebrating a culture for innovation
Team
Dr. Anamaria Vrabie
Founder, Executive Director
Anamaria is a behavioural-informed economist and leader of urban innovation practices with over 15 years of international experience. She has supported more than 25 European cities in developing strategic action plans and transferring good practises, acting as senior expert on governance and integrated urban development for the URBACT and European Urban Initiative programmes of the European Commission. Between 2017- 2022 she has co-designed and managed Cluj-Napoca Urban Innovation Unit, the first municipal public innovation lab in Eastern Europe. She is committed to developing mechanisms that can enable local communities to deal with the current systemic transformations of our daily realities, especially those related to growing mistrust in institutions, climate change and future of work. An experimenter by nature, her practice is strongly informed by her roles as entrepreneur, curator and educator, and the rituals of contemporary dance, sailing and meaningful friendships. She holds an MA in International Affairs as a Fulbright Scholar at The New School New York and a PhD in Applied Economics.
Alexandra Anghel
Programme Manager
Alex (Alexandra) is an urban planner (and yoga teacher) with a passion for building connections, behavioral science, human-centered design and climate action. Her recent professional work includes coordinating a fellowship program for systemic innovators, contributing to the Housing Strategy for the Cluj-Napoca Municipality and co-founding a sustainability non-profit in Romania. She also has experience with facilitating workshops at local and European level, energy efficiency, program management and research. Alex has lived and worked in the USA, Romania, Sweden, Denmark and now Portugal, loves traveling, exploring cities, learning about different cultures and working with people from all over the world.
Dr. Rodica Ianole-Călin
Research Director
Rodica is an applied microeconomist, researcher and educator, focusing on how to best put at use behavioral and data analytics insights to improve personal and societal wellbeing. In her research work she examines attitudes, decisions and behaviors related to sustainable consumption and lifestyles, health and financial decision-making, and urban development.
She teaches behavioral and experimental economics, game theory, and topics in health and environmental economics, at the University of Bucharest (Department of Applied Economics and Quantitative Analysis), where she co-founded the first master program in behavioral economics from Romania.
Currently she is actively engaged in two Horizon 2020 projects investigating informality and shadow economy practices in post-soviet countries, with emphasis on trust and social norms as drivers of tax compliance and entrepreneurial initiatives.
BOARD
Irina Paraschivoiu
Irina is an urban and design researcher and strategist, passionate about the human-centered design of places and technologies. Her recent work focuses on technology applications which can improve decision making in urban planning and citizen wellbeing. As a Research Fellow at the Center for HCI in Salzburg and a Senior Strategist at the AR/VR studio Polycular, she has worked on a wide range of R&D topics, including collaborative urban planning through immersive technologies, behavior change support systems, assisted living, as well as placemaking, learning and empathy in virtual and mixed reality environments. Previously, she developed programs and projects in community-led local development, culture and the arts, and citizen engagement. Irina holds an MSc in Regional and Urban Planning Studies from the London School of Economics and is completing her PhD on affective and augmented experiences in present and future cities.
Livia Stan
Livia has an extensive expertise in public policy, strategy and corporate affairs along with a relevant international experience in the field of public procurement, concessions, PPPs, state aid, competition and access to finance.
She held various key positions in the Romanian Government within the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of European Integration and Ministry of Public Finance, including the position of Secretary General within the Ministry of Health, as well as in the consultancy field along with PwC Romania, WBG and EC. Currently she is coordinating the Public Affairs and EU Funds Departments within E.ON Romania, a leader in the utilities sector deeply involved in the transition to a low-carbon sustainable economy.
Alina Kasprovschi
Alina Kasprovschi founded and has been running the Bucharest Community Foundation for the past ten years. The organization is fundraising local resources and offering grants for projects relevant for the community. She believes that, for a good life, we need local communities that are alive and active in solving their own problems.
Alina has a previous ten year experience in marketing and communication in multinational companies and agencies. When she has free time, she strolls the streets of the city she loves, on her foot scooter, and reads science books with her son.
In addition, we work with an extensive network of talented practitioners from diverse fields, including urban design, urban planning, performing arts, technology, sociology, economics, social entrepreneurship.