October, 2024 / photo taken during the presentation at ISOCARP World Planning Congress at Siena, Italy
 About
Creative architect, urban  designer and engineer, passionate about technological
innovation and urban planning through participation.

A firm believer in the empowerment of people’s
creativity  and cooperation to restructure their living environment to suit their needs.

Background

Architet-Urban Designer with working experience in both private and public commissions and participation in various scales of projects, extending from private residencies and hotel complexes to urban design and strategic planning development, with several architecture and urban design projects having been exhibited internationally and been awarded prizes.

As I always remembered myself as wanting to discover new countries and chasing the opportunities to really delve into different educational systems and cultures other than my own, I decided to extend my studies in USA. Through this highly interdisciplinary master’s program in Urban Design at UC Berkeley, I had the chance to do research on environmental urban design. Also, having been admitted to the New Media Center Certificate Program , I worked on projects at the intersection of design and technology.



January, 2019 / photo taken by @AaronTse during the UC Berkeley - China University of Technology (SCUT) Urban Design Workshop at Guangzhou, China


Work Experience



Having always an interest in technological innovation, I worked as a web designer intern at IT Center of AUTH for more than a year, developing the “myauth mobile”, a personalized application for university’s students and I completed my dissertation ondigital applications as a tool for participatory processes and social innovation. Working for my diploma project, I grew an interest in urban planning through participation, as I believe in people’s creativity and cooperation. This tendency was reinforced during an Educational Trip at MIT organized by Corallia and Greek associations from Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Georgia Tech and UC San Diego , which also led me to become involved in the executive board of the program as well as in university teams  (COMVOS) and other organizations in Thessaloniki.

I started my architectural career as an intern at OHLAB studio and continued as junior Architect at Gras Reynes studio at Mallorca. Later on , as I pursued my career as an Architect/ Urban Designer at Smithgroup, I have dealt with issues ranging from both large scale analytics and urban development to architectural proposals.
During my post graduate-studies at UC Berkeley, I gained teaching experience as Graduate Student Instructor for DISC 2019 (Design and Innovation for Sustainable Cities) program and working experience as Adobe Student Lead at UC Berkeley Digital and Learning Services, creating content for the program, developing/leading Adobe software consultations for campus affiliates.    
         
 I currectly remain academically active, conducting research for my Ph.D in the area of  Smart Cities and Innovation Ecosystems, focusing on big data, spatial analytics for the identification of the innovation determinants.

During the last months I have been visiting student at Business School at Columbia University, working on examining innovation ecosystems, smart technologies to devise practical urban development frameworks for planners and policymakers in order to understand the innovation determinants.

Distinctions

2020

Collective Obscura was selected as World Changing Ideas Finalist by Fast Company Magazine
Published on UC Berkeley New Media website

2019

Ignite Grant: Jacobs Institute Innovation Catalysts, a grant program that helps Berkeley’s student innovators

2019

Scholarships for Graduate studies at UC Berkeley

2014

2nd Award in the Architectural Competition, Expanded Laboratory of Restoration and Reuse of Historic Buildings and Sites "Restoration and reuse of the Stables of the " Paulou Mela” Military Camp of Thesaloniki


Talks -Presentations

August 2024

Strategies for Sustainable Development: From Building Practices to Community Action & Policies.[presentation]. AIA Silicon Valley , Christopher Kelly Leadership Development Program, Session #6 : Industry Game Changers, https://aiasiliconvalley.org/christopher-kelley-leadership-development-program/

April 2024

The determinants of the Innovation Districts: A Spatial Analysis across New York’s and Boston’s neighborhoods . [presentation]. BARI Conference 2024, https://cssh.northeastern.edu/bari/bari-conference-2024-greater-bostons-annual-insight-to-impact-summit/

2023


Oikonomaki, E. Papadaki, I. Sicignano, G. Butt, A. Notton, H. (September 2023) Global Urban Greening Strategies: From policies to community action. [presentation]. Placemaking Europe Week 2023, https://placemakingweekeurope2023.sched.com/event/1RbQE/eco2-global-urban-greening-strategies-from-policies-to-community-action

March 2021


Kakderi, C. Komninos, N. Panori, A. Oikonomaki, E. Next City: Learning from Cities during COVID-19 to Tackle Climate Change, Sustainability, Issue 13, 3158. [paper presentation] ABC of TRSA on the occasion of the 2022 Conference of the WRSA Scottsdale (Phoenix), Arizona, USA, https://www.wrsaonline.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WRSA_Program_2022AnnualMeeting02112022.pdf

December 2020


Oikonomaki E. Truitt, B. Timmons, R. Collective Obscura project presented at Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/ Architecture (UABB) at Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China. In proceedings of the project exhibited at “Eyes of the City” section

Fall 2019


Collective Obscura project exhibited at Jacobs Design Showcase at Jacobs Institute, https://jacobsinstitute.berkeley.edu/news/meet-fall-2019-innovation-catalysts-student-grant-winners/

2019


Anti-Wumai and Collective Obscura projects exhibited at 2019 Maker Faire Bay Area, San Mateo Event Center (Silicon Valley, USA)


Fall 2019


Oakland 2100: A Game About the Future of Oakland at Spur Oakland

2017


Oikonomaki, E. Latinopoulou, M.  InCREAsing_acTIVITY project exhibited at the UIA Seoul World Architects Congress at Seoul, South Korea. Representation of Greece and participation in the exhibition of Greek pavilion. Award in panhellenic competition powered by Technical Chamber of Greece

2016


Oikonomaki E. Gianoulaki, K. Papastergiou, A. Zachariadou, D. Restoration and reuse of the Stables of the Paulou Mela Military Camp
 

2014


Oikonomaki E. Gianoulaki, K. Revitilization of “Eleftheria” square - 2 projects exhibited at Imagine Thessaloniki 2014, published on online  





Research


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY, USA        
Spring 2024
Visiting Student admitted at the Business Department

Research project: “The determinants of the Innovation Districts”

Auditing classes “ Business and Climate Change”, “Financial Econometrics: Panel Data”,  ”Entrepreneurial Strategy”,  “Applied Regression Analysis”,  “Artificial Intelligence” & “Python for Public Policy”, “Analytics in Python”


NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, BOSTON, MA, USA
2022 -2023
Visiting Ph.D Student admitted at Departments of Economics and Public Policy

Attended classes “Machine Learning and Data Mining”, “Big Data for cities”, statistical analysis of urban informatics using R programming language. 


ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI, GREECE  
2020-2024

Doctor of Philosophy in Smart Cities, School of Spatial Planning and Development

• Conduct research on policies and strategies aimed at fostering economic and social development within specific regions. Participate in projects related to smart cities and environmental urban development.
• Investigate innovation patterns across neighborhoods, urban analytics for the built environment, intelligent city strategies, and smart technologies for growth and resilience at the urban and metropolitan levels, with a focus on examining the determinants of innovation at the neighborhood level.
• Detailed duties include statistical and geospatial analysis of urban informatics, socioeconomic data, infrastructure data, and urban morphology.
• Utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to predict high innovative performance at the district level.
• Tools used include Python and R programming languages for data collection, analysis, and modeling, as well as for building machine learning and neural network algorithms for predicting innovation at the zip code and census tract levels.

Thesis


2019

Thesis Project at UC Berkeley, Revitalizing Innovation Ecosystems: The city of Thessaloniki as an ecosystem for innovation, Committee: Renee Chow, Margaret Crawford, John Ellis, Ghigo DiTommaso

2016

Diploma Research Thesis “Applications as a tool of participatory processes and social innovation” 2016, Grade: 10/10 Supervisor: Komninos Nicos

2015-2016

Diploma Design Thesis at AUTH“InCREAsing_acTIVITY”, participatory planning, an urban planning paradigm that emphasizes involving the entire community in the strategic and management processes of urban planning of Thessaloniki, Grade: 10/10, Supervisors: Komninos Nicos, Christodoulou Charis

Publications - Awards

April 2024

Oikonomaki, E. Papadaki, I. Kakderi, C.  Promoting Green Transformations through Smart Engagement: An assessment of 100 citizen-led projects, published in ‘Land’ Journal, Special Issue “Redefining Cities and Planning under the Twin Smart and Green Transition”,  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/land13040556

July 2023


Oikonomaki, E. Belivanis, D. A new perspective on the prediction of the innovation performance: A data-driven methodology to identify innovation indicators through a comparative study of Boston’s neighborhoods, [paper presentation]. HCI International 2023, published in the conference proceedings by Springer Nature, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-36049-7_28

April 2023


Sohrabi, P. Oikonomaki, E. Hamdy, N. Kakderi, C. Bevilacqua, C. Navigating the green transition during the pandemic equitably: A new perspective on technological resilience among Boston Neighborhoods facing the shock , [paper presentation]. Symposium New Metropolitan Perspective TREND Focus sessions (May 2022) and accepted for the publication in the open-access Volume “New Metropolitan Perspective - Transition with Resilience for Evolutionary Development”, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34211-0_14

July 2022


Oikonomaki, E. Enabling real-time and big data-driven analysis to detect innovation city patterns and emerging innovation     ecosystems at the local level, [paper presentation]. HCI International 2022, published in the conference proceedings & Springer,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-05463-1_28

March 2021


Kakderi, C. Komninos, N. Panori, A. Oikonomaki, E. Next City: Learning from Cities during COVID-19 to Tackle Climate Change, Sustainability, Issue 13, 3158. DOI: 10.3390/su13063158

June 2021


Kakderi, C. Oikonomaki, E. Papadaki, I. Smart and Resilient Urban Futures for Sustainability in the Post COVID-19 Era: A Review of Policy Responses on Urban Mobility, Sustainability Issue 13, 6486, DOI: 10.3390/su13116486

November 2020


Oikonomaki, E. Kakderi, C. Papadaki, I. Building resilient urban futures by setting a mission for sustainability in the post-oil and post Covid-19 era. In proceedings of the 56th ISOCARP World Planning Congress, Doha, Qatar
DOI: 10.20944/preprints202105.0184.v1,
Published Abstract in the Congress Bochure: https://isocarp.org/app/uploads/2021/03/2020-2021-Congress_Brochure.pdf

2020


Collective Obscura project included in the “Jacobs 5 Year Anniversary Book”, a 64-page print book that celebrates the achievements of the students, staff, and faculty of Jacobs Institute since its inception in fall 2015, UC Berkeley, USA, https://artsdesign.berkeley.edu/design/made-at-berkeley/jacobs-5-year-anniversary-book-2021

October 2020

Oikonomaki, E. Sarkin, G. Sanborn, S. Chung, H. Reimagining the public realm_A Framework to Build Resilient Communities During & After the Pandemic. Published on SmithGroup website

April 2020


World Changing Ideas Finalist for Collective Obscura project published by Fast Company Magazine & Website: www.fastcompany.com/90492112/world-changing-ideas-awards-2020-students-finalists-and-honorable-mentions, published by UC Berkeley New Media website: http://bcnm.berkeley.edu/news-research/3844/bcnm-students-finalists-for-fast-company-s-student-world-changing-ideas

2019

Oikonomaki E. Truitt, B. Timmons, R. Song, L. Collective Obscura. Participation in  Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture (UABB), project exhibited at “Eyes of the City” Section (Shenzhen & Hong Kong, China, December 2019)

2019

Anti-Wumai & Collective Obscura projects exhibited at Maker Faire Bay Area, San Mateo Event Center (Silicon Valley, USA)

2019

Oikonomaki E. Wing, T. Wilcox, W. Ku, Kochar, M. Zhang, B. Brooklyn Terraces. Placed as Semifinalist of HUD Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition, published at HUD website

2019

Fall 2019 Jacobs Design Showcase  at Jacobs Institute, CA, USA


2019


Bosselmann, P. C. Kondolf, M. Webb, P.  Oikonomaki, E. An Island In Transition, Adaptation of Urban Form,  Landscape Architecture 2019-09, 170, Vol 26, https://www.pressreader.com/china/landscape-architecture/20190915/282351156488350

2018


Oikonomaki, E. Wing, T. Wilcox, W. Ku, Kochar, M. Zhang, B. Brooklyn Terraces placed as Semifinalist of HUD Innovation in 2018 Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition, published on HUD website.

2017

Oikonomaki, E. Latinopoulou, M. InCREAsing_acTIVITY. In proceedings of the UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress, Seoul, South Korea. Representation of Greece and participation in the exhibition of Greek pavilio (Award in panhellenic competition powered by Technical Chamber of Greece)

                      
©2019 Eleni Oikonomaki