January, 2019 / photo taken by @AaronTse during the UC Berkeley - China University of Technology (SCUT) Urban Design Workshop at Guangzhou, China
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.
About
Architet-Urban Designer based in San Francisco since 2018, 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.
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.
Current Research
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK, NY, USA
01/2024 -05/2024
Visiting Student admitted at Departments of Business
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
Research on Innovation Ecosystems, Intelligent City Strategies and Smart Technologies for Growth and Resilience at the Urban, Metropolitan Level
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 DiTommaso2016
Diploma Research Thesis“Applications as a tool of participatory processes and social innovation” 2016, Grade: 10/10 Supervisor: Komninos Nicos2015-2016
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 CharisPublications -
Exhibitions
2024
Oikonomaki, E. Papadaki, I. Kakderi, C. (March 2024) Smart technologies for community engagement, monitoring and scaling up urban greening initiatives: An assessment of 100 citizen-led projects, to be published in ‘Land’ Journal, Special Issue “Redefining Cities and Planning under the Twin Smart and Green Transition”.2023
Oikonomaki, E. Belivanis, D. (July 2023) 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
2023
Sohrabi, P. Oikonomaki, E. Hamdy, N. Kakderi, C. Bevilacqua, C. (April 2023) 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 and accepted for the publication in the open-access Volume “New Metropolitan Perspective - Transition with Resilience for Evolutionary Development”
2021
Oikonomaki, E. Kakderi C. Komninos, N. Panori, A. Next City: Learning from Cities during COVID-19 to Tackle Climate Change, Pub-lished by Sustainability, Sustainability Issue 13, 3158. (March 2021)2021
Oikonomaki, E. Kakderi, C. 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. ( June 2021)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, November 2020)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 website2019
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 website2019
Fall 2019 Jacobs Design Showcase at Jacobs Institute, CA, USA2017
Oikonomaki, E. Latinopoulou, M. InCREAsing_acTIVITY. In proceedings of the UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress (Seoul, South Korea 2017). Representation of Greece and participation in the exhibition of Greek pavilion(Award in panhellenic competition powered by Technical Chamber of Greece)
2017
Interviews about “myauth” mobile app: - Nea Kriti website - TV CRETE Channel - Proto thema.gr2014
Oikonomaki, E. Gianoulaki, K. Papastergiou, A. Zachariadou, D. Restoration and reuse of the Stables of the Paulou Mela Military Camp. Published by Texnografima Magazine of Technical Chamber of Greece ( Page 06, Issue: 484 1st May 2014).Thesaloniki2014
Oikonomaki E. Gianoulaki, K. Papastergiou, A. Zachariadou, D. Restoration and reuse of the Stables of the Paulou Mela Military Camp, Oikonomaki E. Gianoulaki, K “Revitilization of “Eleftheria” square in Thessaloniki- 2 projects exhibited at Imagine Thessaloniki 2014, published on online IMAGINE THE CITY platform2014
Article about studies at MIT, published on LIFO online magazineAwards &
Dinstictions
2020
Collective Obscura was selected as World Changing Ideas Finalist by Fast Company Magazine
Published on UC Berkeley New Media website
Published on UC Berkeley New Media website
2019
Ignite Grant: Jacobs Institute Innovation Catalysts, a grant program that helps Berkeley’s student innovators2019
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
©2019 Eleni Oikonomaki