Ather Ashraf

Ather Ashraf is also a Spatial Data Engineer/Consultant at the Al Madina Al Munswarah Development Authority. He has extensive research and work experience in the field of GIS in large organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme, Asian Development Bank, Focus Humanitarian, ILF Pvt. Ltd, and NESPAK Pvt. Ltd. His areas of specialization are Water Informatics, Land Suitability Modeling, Fuzzy GIS, Intelligent System, GIS Engineering/ Development, Image Processing, Geostatistics, and  Geoprocessing.

Disability Innovation and Inclusive Urban Development

Victoria Austin, director and co-founder of Global Disability Innovation Hub, will share lessons on creating inclusive environment and the role innovation can play in tackling disability from her experience with Paralympic Legacy Programme in the UK. The program includes designing urban development projects which address themes of re-development, physical access improvements, skills development, disability sports, and volunteering. The event is jointly organized by Social Development TG, Urban SG, and Digital Technology for Development Unit.

ADB Perspectives on Smart City

Project officers of ADB who are supporting the development of various smart cities projects share their experiences and updates in this presentation. As no universal definition exists for smart city, the commonalities identified from ADB’s smart cities projects were used as a starting point for creating one.

Luca Di Mario

Dr. Luca Di Mario is a Senior Urban Development Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Water and Urban Sector Group, currently sector focal for Türkiye and Kazakhstan. He joined ADB in 2016 as a Young Professional in the South Asia Urban Development and Water Division. As Team Leader, he has led the preparation and implementation of several urban infrastructure development and climate resilience sovereign investments in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and the Maldives. Between 2022 and 2024, he served as Senior Advisor to the ADB Vice-President for Finance and Risk Management.