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Lance Freeman is a Professor in the Urban Planning program at Columbia University in New York City. His research focuses on affordable housing, gentrification, ethnic and racial stratification in housing markets, and the relationship between the built environment and wellbeing. Professor Freeman teaches courses on community development, housing policy and research methods. Dr. Freeman has published several articles in refereed journals on issues related to neighborhood change, urban poverty, housing policy, urban sprawl and residential segregation. He is also the author of the book \_There Goes the Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up\_[book link](http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1827\_reg.html "").

Japonica Brown-Saracino is an ethnographer who specializes in urban and community sociology, cultural sociology, and the study of race, ethnicity and sexuality. In 2004, City and Community published her article, “Social Preservationists and the Quest for Authentic Community,” which draws on her study of four gentrifying communities in New England and Chicago and introduces her concept of “social preservation.” She further explores these topics in her book,[ A Neighborhood That Never Changes: Gentrification, Social Preservation, and the Search for Authenticity](http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo8066321.html ""), which received the 2010-2011 Urban Affairs Association Best Book Award. She serves on the Boston University Initiative on Cities’ advisory board.

Peter Roth is the founder and president of the New Atlantic Development Corporation, a Boston-based company developing housing and mixed-use infill projects in the city and surrounding suburbs. His work includes a mix of historic/adaptive reuse and new construction projects, with a focus on community integration and affordable housing. Trained at MIT in architecture and real estate development, he has national experience in the area of industrial redevelopment, and has focused most recently on urban mixed-income housing and adaptive reuse. In addition to his development activity, Roth teaches in the Master’s degree program in Real Estate Development at MIT and serves on the Boston Preservation Alliance’s Board of Directors.

Dana Whiteside oversees the implementation of projects and programs that advance the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s mission. He works with staff at the agency to complete various planning initiatives such as the Mattapan Economic Development Initiative, the Dudley Vision Project and the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan. Whiteside is part of the Cabinet Staff within the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development providing support for initiatives to expand the economic base of Boston neighborhoods. He also facilitates completion of housing projects through the Article 80 process, serves as the agency’s representative for the Neighborhood Housing Trust (NHT), and manages the agency’s process for review and completion of Housing Creation Proposals.

While Parker is a Californian by birth, she considers herself a “Bay Stater” by birthright, having recently traced her European ancestry to the State’s early settlers. When she first visited Boston in February 1975 in the middle of a whiteout blizzard, it somehow felt like home. But it wasn’t until 1993 that she permanently settled in the City with her three children, London, Prophet and N’Dia. A resident of the West End since 1998, Parker is proud to call herself a New West Ender and looks forward to the spring when she will join a growing group of neighborhood grandparents pushing strollers along Staniford Street. ([Boston Herald](http://thewestendmuseum.org/exhibitions/exhibit-the-new-west-enders-other-green-monsters/ ""))

Andrew Knoll, Ph.D., is the Fisher Professor of Natural History and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Microbiology. Dr. Knoll has received many prestigious awards for his outstanding research on the interdependence of the evolution of life and the evolution of our planet. He is also the author of \_Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Life on Earth\_ (2003).

Judith Kalaora is an actress, educator, and historical interpreter. She has worked on stages from London to Montreal and across the U.S.A. Kalaora holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University and attended the Globe Education Program, at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, in London, U.K. She teaches regularly for Cambridge & Newton Adult Education and performs in schools, independent living communities, libraries, and historical societies throughout the Northeast.

Janette Sadik-Khan was Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation from 2007-2013 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, during which time New York City added nearly 400 miles of bike lanes and the first parking-protected bike paths in North America. Her department set in motion more than 60 plazas across the city. Sadik-Khan worked with the Metropolitan Transport Agency to launch New York City's first six rapid bus lines and oversaw hundreds of intersection and street redesigns that greatly reduced the city's traffic fatalities. She also oversaw the 2013 launch of Citi Bike, the nation's largest bike share system. Currently, Sadik-Khan advises mayors of cities around the world as a principal at Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy established by Michael Bloomberg to help cities around the world improve the quality of life of their citizens. She assists mayors and their teams in developing street redesigns in cities from Los Angeles to Mexico City to Rio and Athens. She is the author of \_Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution\_ (2016).

**Dr. Shirin Ebadi** was one of Iran’s first female judges and served as the first female chief magistrate of one of the country’s highest courts until the 1979 Islamic Revolution stripped her of her judgeship. In the 1990s Ebadi returned to the law as a defender of women’s and children’s rights, founding a human rights center that spearheaded legal reform and public debate around the Islamic Republic’s discriminatory laws. She has defended many of the country’s most prominent prisoners of conscience and spent nearly a month in prison in 1999 for her activities. For many years she was at the center of Iran’s grassroots women’s movement. In 2003 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. Since the election uprising of June 2009 she has lived in exile. Photo Credit: John Murphy

Master, Kenny Barron has an unmatched ability to mesmerize audiences with his elegant playing, sensitive melodies and infectious rhythms. The Los Angeles Times named him “one of the top jazz pianists in the world” and Jazz Weekly calls him “The most lyrical piano player of our time.” ([more....](http://kennybarron.com/biography/ ""))

Karl Dean served two consecutive terms as Mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County from 2007 until 2015. During his years in office, Mayor Dean worked diligently to improve Nashville’s quality of life by promoting health, sustainability, community development, and volunteerism. In addition to serving as the first Mayor in Residence at the Boston University Initiative on Cities, Mayor Dean is also BU’s Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science. He teaches a course called The Contemporary American City: Challenges and Opportunities.

James Miner, Principal of urban design and planning at Sasaki Associates in Watertown, has focused much of his practice on creating more sustainable communities for future generations. Miner lectures and writes extensively on the various ways in which local food can be used to promote economic development and other advantages.