Dr. Laura Saija
About
Dr. Laura Saija is an Associate Professor in City and Regional Planning at the University of Catania and, since 2023, holds the National Scientific Qualification for Full Professor. She has previously served as an Assistant professor in City and Regional Planning, University of Memphis, TN, USA and as a 2009 Marie Curie Global research Fellow, between the University of Catania and the University of Memphis.
Her main research interest is how participatory action-research engages distressed communities viewed as socio-ecological systems, in co-design and collaborative planning processes aimed at enhancing their quality of life. Her work aims at generating transformative collective learning processes, with an approach that lies at the nexus of participatory planning, libertarian pedagogy, and Direct Action Organizing. She has a long record of long-term community-university partnerships supporting distressed communities facing major controversies such as disinvestment, neglect, gentrification, the construction of a polluting facility, etc.
