As a designer, urbanist (and occasional artist), Elena is interested in developing spatial tools that structure complex urban development strategies. Elena has extensive professional experience in architecture and urbanism in the UK, South Africa and South America, and has taught at some of the world’s leading academic institutions.

Elena is currently a Unit Master at the AA Housing and Urbanism Masters programme, and a Unit Master at the Masters in Urban Design at the Bartlett. She is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Cagliari, Italy; a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Brighton MA Urban Studies; and a Visiting Tutor at London Metropolitan University MA Cities, Design & Urban Culture. Elena has also been a visiting critic at ETH Zurich, and has participated in numerous international workshops.

Recent publications include Future Brixton, (2009); Assembling the Future: The Role of Transactive Planning in generating alternative urban strategies, (MPhil Dissertation, AA, 2003); Transforming Cities: design in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro (Editor and Contributor, Published by the British Council, 2001). A recent, unrealised installation, the Bookbox, was presented as part of a symposium on Institutions and Initiatives, at London Metropolitan University, 2008. Telefavela, an 8mm film, was exhibited at the Independent States exhibition, curated by 24/7 and Pablo Leon De La Barra, London, 2003.

Elena is part of a research cluster re-thinking the spatial conditions of informal cities at the AA, with Alex Warnock-Smith and Jorge Fiori, and has participated in international workshops in China, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Africa and South America.

Co-founder of Urban Projects Bureau www.urbanprojectsbureau.com