The team has solid experience in urban development and urbanism. We have lived and worked in eight countries on four different continents. Our clients include private enterprises, multinational agencies such as UN Agencies, international donor agencies, public sector institutions and civil society organisations.

In particular, we have consulted local and national governments on urbanism-related issues such as master planning, economic development, innovation creation, programme and project conceptualisation, public participation, strategy and policy formulation in more than 30 cities in over two dozen countries.

Jeffrey Craft

Jeffrey Craft is an urbanist, design leader, and senior executive whose work operates at the intersection of urban design, landscape architecture, architecture, and complex city-building. His career combines design leadership, business management, strategic growth, and thought leadership, with a particular focus on understanding and shaping the forces driving contemporary urbanisation.

As Principal of COMPLEX(c)ity, Jeffrey works at the strategic intersection of urban policy, planning, design, and development, examining cities and territories as interconnected social, cultural, environmental, infrastructural, spatial, and economic systems. His work focuses on translating complex urban challenges into coherent strategies and implementable programmes, connecting high-level policy and development objectives with the physical, institutional, and economic realities of place.

As Managing Director of STUDIO tla, a Toronto-based urban design and landscape architecture practice, Jeffrey provides senior management and design leadership across the firm. He is responsible for strategic direction, business performance, organizational development, business development, and the oversight of major public, institutional, mixed-use, residential, and master-planning projects. His design leadership is particularly focused on creating public-realm and urban frameworks that integrate buildings, streets, parks, infrastructure, landscape, and community life into cohesive and enduring urban environments.

Jeffrey also serves as USA Manager for WZMH Architects, leading the firm's expansion and business development in the United States through its offices in Austin, Texas, and San Jose, California. In this role, he brings together market strategy, client development, design positioning, and practice growth, with an emphasis on extending WZMH's architectural, urban design, and master-planning capabilities within the U.S. market.

Underlying these roles is a sustained interest in the larger processes shaping human settlement. An MSc in Cities graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Jeffrey's research and writing explore city-building and urbanisation as interconnected systems rather than simply physical development. His work seeks to bridge design, policy, development, and implementation, positioning design not only as a means of shaping places, but as a strategic instrument for navigating the increasingly complex social, economic, environmental, and spatial forces transforming cities and territories.

KARI KANKAALA

Kari is an experienced urbanist and urban development specialist. He currently serves as a partner at Complex(c)ity Ltd, following a two-decade career with the City of Tampere, Finland. His expertise encompasses knowledge-based regional urban and economic development, with particular emphasis on smart and sustainable cities, innovation policy, university-industry relations
and sustainable economic growth. Prior to joining the City of Tampere, Kari held positions both in the private and public sectors in Finland and in the US. His previous roles included CEO of a service innovation consultancy with emphasis on service business development and a director at an innovation fund focused on very early-stage high-tech venture capital investment among others.
Kari has served as chair or board member of more than twenty companies and has contributed as an expert in numerous working groups and committees home and abroad.

Kari holds a Dr. Tech. from Tampere University of Technology and an MSc in Cities from the
London School of Economics and Political Science.

MARC STEINLIN

Marc is deeply involved in creating prolific conditions, designing and facilitating conducive transformative processes in social systems, organisations, communities and more recently, specifically in urban spaces.
With a background in sociology, international relations and international law, Marc specialised in programme management and knowledge management in international development and cooperation. He worked for the international development NGO Helvetas (Switzerland) until migrating to South Africa, where he started his own boutique consulting company IngeniousPeoplesKnowledge Consultants (I-P-K) in 2006. Under Marc’s leadership, I-P-K has since delivered dozens of mandates for UN Agencies, international donor agencies, public sector institutions and civil society organisations across the entire African continent, in Europe and Asia.

Marc has advanced the design and facilitation of highly participatory processes, from small group events to whole system processes and large multi-stakeholder platforms to create strategies, devise policies, innovate, leverage diversity and harness conflict constellations.

Marc has consulted in a wide spectrum of issues, inter alia entrepreneurship promotion,
gender/equality/diversity, financial literacy and inclusion, green economy promotion, social protection, judiciary and police reform, participatory and situational leadership development, organisational development to name a few.

He holds a MA in sociology M.Sc. in Cities and CAS in International Development.