Today and more than ever before, creative cities are emerging as hubs for stimulating innovation and sustainable development, attracting talent, and harnessing opportunities across sectors.

With a firm belief in untapped creative potential, Kerem Alper (ATÖLYE), Jeff Risom (Gehl), and Jacob Benbunan (Saffron) brought a combined 50+ years of experience in city branding, urban design, innovation and community building to dream up the creative cities of the future. In a discussion led by Laila Binbrek (National Pavilion UAE La Biennale di Venezia), they answer the question: What will it truly take for a city like Dubai to become one of the most livable and innovative cities in the world?

Registrations are now closed.

About the Speaker(s):

Kerem Alper (ATÖLYE)
Kerem Alper is the co-founder of ATÖLYE. As a multidisciplinary systems thinker with a background in entrepreneurship, sustainability, and design, he believes in unleashing the creative confidence in communities to enable meaningful change in the world. Before ATÖLYE, Kerem worked at Nest Labs, designing new business models and digital experiences. Kerem was selected as a Lightspeed Venture Partners Fellow, the British Council Creative Entrepreneur of the Year, a Young Global Leader by the Council for the U.S. and Italy, and a Responsible Leader by the BMW Foundation.

Jeff Risom (Gehl)
Jeff Risom is a partner and the Chief Innovation Officer at Gehl. Jeff leads Gehl’s innovation team in finding new ways to work with data and develop innovative solutions to make better cities for people. His latest projects include working with the city of London to help reduce people’s exposure to poor air quality through the Thrive Zone strategy and mapping ‘foodscapes’ in Copenhagen to help youth change their eating habits towards healthier food choices. Jeff works globally with public and private clients and is always inclined to work on projects that aim for sustainability,

Jacob Benbunan (Saffron)
Jacob Benbunan started Saffron in 2001 with the late Wally Olins. Today he is the Chairman and CEO. In his 36 years of experience, Jacob has worked with a large variety of clients including Orange, Repsol, YouTube, Facebook, Vueling, A1 Telekom Austria, Engie, ABP News in India, SwissRe and Plus in Poland. Jacob champions the global, multi-cultural and one-team approach that Saffron has embraced since the very beginning. As well as running Saffron, Jacob frequently informs the media on issues relating to brand and identity and delivers keynote speeches at events like Web Summit and Collision.

Laila Binbrek (National Pavilion UAE La Biennale di Venezia)
Laila Binbrek is the Coordinating Director of the National Pavilion UAE, which presents the United Arab Emirates’ annual exhibition at the Venice Biennale. She has worked to set the pavilion’s ongoing strategy and vision in collaboration with its commissioner, the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, and manages its operations and team. Additionally, she oversees the development of the Venice Internship, a training program that to date has sent around 200 interns to Venice as ambassadors for the UAE and its rich culture.