Niels Bjørn (DK) has worked with strategic urban development and social sustainability since 2008, when he shifted his professional focus from film and television to urbanism with a PhD dissertation on the complexity of cities. Since then, he has led a number of strategic processes, produced analyses and plans in close collaboration with architects, and has enriched architects’ plans with knowledge of human-centered design.

Niels Bjørn’s interest in social sustainability grew from his work with socially vulnerable housing areas and the question of why some areas seem to function worse for people than others. For the past ten years, Niels Bjørn has worked in his own consultancy, advising municipalities, developers, and public housing organizations. Alongside his consultancy work, Niels Bjørn is a communicator, hosting and producing Denmark’s first architecture podcast, BYLYD, making documentary films, most recently a VR portrait of architect Dorte Mandrup, and writing, with his latest book Det menneskelige habitat (2024). Niels Bjørn is a widely used speaker and moderator and works across the country.

Photo credit: Ane Skak