Strategic Urban Planner at the City of Aachen | Germany

Ekaterina Koch-Lichtenstein’s mission is to bring a focus on user needs in the design of cities and places. She does this be treating the city as a product: reading the data that its users generate as feedback about how the city is performing for different user groups. Drawing on her experience of fast-paced start-ups and multinational corporates, Ekaterina applies design thinking and UX focus to the design of future cities. She has spent 15+ years working in the field of the built environment, as an expert in master planning, urban design, urban data analytics, and Smart City strategies. Ekaterina was a member of the Smart London Board under Mayor Sadiq Khan, where she put data and tech at the heart of making England’s capital an even better place to live, work, and visit. Ekaterina currently works for the City of Aachen, analysing user generated mobility data and deriving insights into user needs that she can ultimately use to improve urban mobility and planning. She also proudly describes herself as “a networker, connector of people and dots, a culture builder, and a research geek”.