Laura Petrella

Laura Petrella has extensive work experience in the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Laura started their career in 1999 as a Programme Officer in the Safer Cities Programme. Laura then served as an Ag Coordinator for the Safer Cities Programme from 2003 to 2009. From 2009 to 2012, Laura worked as a Human Settlements Officer specializing in urban planning. Laura then became the Leader of the City Planning, Extension, and Design Unit from 2012 to 2020. Currently, they hold the position of Chief in the Planning, Finance, and Economy Section since 2020 and has also worked as a Senior Inter-Agency Advisor from 2021 to 2022.

Laura Petrella has a degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia (IUAV) - University of Architecture of Venice, which they obtained in 1992. The following year, in 1993, they pursued a Master's degree in Urban Planning and Development Studies with a specialization in Regional and Urban Planning applied to developing Countries at IUAV. In 1986, Laura Petrella also briefly studied City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning at EHESS - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.