Chiara Catalano

Chiara Catalano got a PhD in Technologies for Sustainability and Land Restoration at the University of Palermo in 2017 while collaborating with the researchers of the Urban Ecology research group of the Zurich University of Applied Science where she is now employed as a researcher. She is an ecological designer and environmental scientist and she currently runs research on biodiverse and biosolar green roofs, direct greening methods (e.g. hay transfer and hayseeds), plant species selection and vegetation dynamic. An MSc in Architecture and a Master of Second Level in Eco-engineering and Land Restoration allowed her to combine ecological research with design and planning. "Multidisciplinary thinking" became, in fact, her daily mantra in the last years. Her eager to travel and to learn different viewpoints took her to live in Catania, Syracuse, Palermo, London, Hannover and Ceske Budejovice and Zurich where she could alternate professional work, further education and research activity. She is always inspired by the capability of plants to build dynamic communities but still able characterise and reveal specific environment conditions: "Plants cannot speak and move but they give us lessons of perfect slow adaptation. We can observe and study them to plan greener, more resilient and liveable cities".

Zurigo, 28.03.2018