About Dr. May East

May East is an international urbanist specialised in nature-positive and gender-sensitive cities. A UNITAR Fellow, her current work involves the use of regenerative design approaches for shaping 20-minutes neighbourhoods, mining cities and informal settlements. She holds a Master of Science in Spatial Planning with specialization in the rehabilitation of abandoned villages and a PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning on the topic What if Women Designed the City? She was a co-founder of Gaia Education and led the organisation for over a decade. Currently, she serves as the UN House Scotland Director of Cities programme. May was awarded Women of the Decade in Sustainability and Leadership by Women Economic Forum in 2019.