Cristina Capineri | Director
Cristina Capineri is professor of geography at the Dipartimento Scienze Sociali, Politiche e Cognitive of the University of Siena, where she teaches human and economic geography and directs the Ladest Lab. She co-founded the Vespucci Initiative for the Advancement of Geographic Information Science, and chaired the COST Action ENERGIC on crowdsourced data and citizen science. Her research interests concern broadly transport and telecommunication networks, Giscience, volunteered geographic information and citizen science, local development and sustainable development, environmental indicators and landscape.
Venere Stefania Sanna | Scientific coordinator
Venere Stefania Sanna is a researcher in economic and political geography, currently working for the Department of Social, Political and Cognitive Sciences (DISPOC), University of Siena. Dr Sanna has been involved in many national and international projects, she was Management Committee member of the COST Action “From Sharing to Caring” and co-Leader of the WG3 on the “Impacts of the Collaborative Economy”. Her research interests include regional economic development, European policies, migrant integration processes, social movements, sustainability issues, the sharing and collaborative economy, and research methodologies. Her research method is based on a strongly interdisciplinary approach that incorporates policy and practice impacts, and her eclectic publication record reflects her diversity in fields of knowledge and study.
Giacomo-Maria Salerno | Researcher
Giacomo-Maria Salerno is a researcher in Geography at the Department of Social Political and Cognitive Sciences (DISPOC) of the University of Siena. He has a Master degree in Philosophy and holds a PhD in Urban Planning. His research interests focus on heritage studies, touristification and gentrification processes, housing, urban social movements and right to the city. He is a member of OCIO – Osservatorio Civico sulla casa e sull’abitare, a venetian grassroots watchdog on housing and of the research group Short Term City – Digital platforms and spatial (in)justice [STCity]. Among his publications: Per una critica dell’economia turistica. Venezia tra museificazione e mercificazione (Quodlibet 2020); Touristification and displacement. The long-standing production of Venice as a tourist attraction, City, 26:2-3, 519-541 (2022); Venice as a short-term city. Between global trends and local lock-ins, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 30:5, 1040-1059 (2022, with A. P. Russo).
Pouya Sepehr | Fellow researcher
Pouya Sepehr is a fellow researcher in Geography at the Department of Social Political and Cognitive Sciences (DISPOC) of the University of Siena. Pouya is an academically engaged researcher at the crossroads of science, technology, environmental, and urban studies. His PhD from the University of Vienna anchors his work in exploring the societal impacts of technological advancements, with a keen focus on sustainability in urban settings. Pouya’s journey through academia and research has seen him flourish as a University Assistant, Research Fellow, and Lecturer, particularly in fields of digital social innovation and urban governance. His current research interests include multi-species urbanism, aiming at enhancing urban sustainability and resilience. Pouya’s work embodies a commitment to integrating theoretical insights with practical solutions to further the dialogue on urban sustainability.
EXTERNAL COLLABORATORS
Antonello Romano | Researcher
Antonello Romano is a researcher at the Department of Civilisations and Forms of Knowledge – University of Pisa. He is a member of the transdisciplinary research project ‘STcity: Digital platforms and spatial justice’. His research focuses on Digital Geography, Platform Capitalism, Platform Urbanism, Crowdsourced Geographic Information, Big Data, Geographic Data-Science. Personal blog on www.nocodegeography.com
Antonella Radicchi | Researcher
Antonella Radicchi is an urbanist and a researcher with over ten years of professional experience in Higher Education and Industry in the US, Germany, the UK and Italy. Her research work is informed by a humanist perspective and driven by a vision of co-creating more liveable and inclusive cities via three lines of research on 1) human-environment interaction in public space with an emphasis on sound, artificial light for visual diversity, and proximity; 2) citizen science, participatory planning and citizen-generated data; 3) digital and sensory ethnographic methods. Across these research areas, she led international research projects, authored over forty publications and taught in Bachelor and Master programmes at Italian, German, US and UK universities. She also served as an Expert for the European Commission D-G Research & Innovation in the framework of the Mutual Learning Exercise on Citizen Science Initiatives.