Leanne is the founder and Managing Director of Hodyl & Co, a design and planning consultancy focused on creating cities people love. She has 20 years experience delivering urban policy and design projects critical to the future development of cities. This includes leading housing strategies, built-form policy for high-density urban environments, arts strategies, urban renewal intensification strategies, master plans for existing urban areas and infrastructure planning projects. Leanne created Cities People Love to enable a shared, meaningful and robust conversation about our cities – how decisions are made in them, and how we best deliver a city that supports everyone to thrive.

Joe Hurley is a Professor with RMIT's Sustainability and Urban Planning program and researcher within the Centre for Urban Research and the Post Carbon Research Centre. Joe takes a particular interest in the relationship between research and practice worlds and is actively involved in work to reduce the barriers to exchange and enhance collaboration. His research focuses on the intersection between urban planning and urban sustainability, and on the role of urban governance and policy in producing sustainable outcomes. He is a chief investigator on several research projects funded by the Australian Research Council; Victorian Department of Planning; and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN).