WASHINGTON (December 13, 2019) — World Resources Institute is pleased to welcome Rogier van den Berg as the new Director of Urban Development for WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. As part of WRI’s program focused on more accessible, equitable, healthy and resilient cities, van den Berg will lead global programming on urban land use, climate change adaptation, equitable development, housing and more.
“I am delighted to welcome Rogier to the team,” said Ani Dasgupta, Global Director of WRI Ross Center. “His vast global experience and knowledge on a wide range of today’s most pressing urban challenges will help our program deliver change on the ground. His work in establishing the Urban Lab demonstrates his creative and entrepreneurial spirit.”
Van den Berg is an urban planning and urban development specialist, architect, former entrepreneur and academic who most recently led UN-Habitat’s Urban Lab, which he set up in 2014. It was created to respond to urban planning demand in cities, and rapidly expanded its scope to become a multidisciplinary urban project and integrated planning facility working in 80 cities globally.
“WRI has the cutting-edge knowledge and the innovative approaches needed to really change the way cities are being built, transformed and managed. I am excited to contribute with my experience to make a real impact in cities and to drive change with partners. No time to lose,” said van den Berg.
Van den Berg led global teams working at the intersection of infrastructure, urban planning, urban resilience, climate change adaptation, technology, recovery and reconstruction, and public space. Partners included many local and national authorities, the World Bank, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, United Kingdom Foreign Office, Caribbean Development Bank, Dutch Enterprise Agency, Airbus and Microsoft. He has established and implemented development projects and programs together with cities and partners in Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia.
Earlier, he was a founding partner of the architecture and planning firm Zandbelt&vandenBerg, where he led a broad portfolio of urban planning and strategy, and he also served as head of the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture’s Master of Urbanism program.
He holds an Executive Master’s Degree in International Negotiation and Policymaking from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and a Master of Science in Architecture from Delft University of Technology
Van den Berg will be based in Washington, DC, moving from Nairobi, Kenya, where he has lived since 2014 with his wife, two sons and daughter.
