Eduardo Cassina (he/they) - I am an urban planner, residency organizer, and gong player. My research explores the development and co-creation of experimental new tools for participatory planning within the framework of artist residencies. 

My background is in architecture and urban sociology. From 2014 to 2020, I co-directed an urbanism practice, METASITU, based in Kyiv working with different actors in post-industrial shrinking cities in Ukraine. Until 2022, I was a design instructor and the Year 2 Coordinator at INDA, Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok. I am currently a Ph.D. Research Fellow at the University of Agder, in Norway. 

I am working in the municipality of Giehtavuotna/Kvæfjord in Sápmi (Troms- Northern Norway) developing a residency program to include more-than-human perspectives in planning. 

Longer bio:

Eduardo Cassina (he/they) is an urban planner, residency organizer, and gong player, contouring the diverse relationships to the land, and their ramifications, in Sápmi. 

Following their graduation from the Mahindra United World College of India, they studied architecture at the Glasgow School of Art. Upon completing their studies in 2008, they enrolled at the Earth Institute in Auroville to deepen their knowledge of traditional earth-based building techniques. They then occupied different research and design roles at the Guggenheim Museums in Venice and New York, as well as the Netherlands Architecture Institute (now Het Nieuwe Instituut) in Rotterdam. 

They went on to study Urban Heritage and Museology at the Reinwardt Academy -Amsterdam School of the Arts- which was followed by a one-year fellowship at Tsinghua University where they researched the spatial impact of tourism in heritage villages around Beijing. They continued their education at Goldsmiths, in London, where they obtained a Masters in Brand Development and Urban Sociology followed by a Master’s of Research in Media and Communications focussing on Architecture where they researched bottom-up spatial manifestations of sino-african exchanges in Southern Africa. 

In 2013, they joined the urbanism research program at the Strelka Institute, where they would later lecture and mentor on extractivism. Between 2014 and 2020, they co-directed METASITU, an urbanism practice based in Kyiv, centered around participatory planning and urban degrowth in post-industrial shrinking cities throughout Ukraine. With their main initiative, The Degrowth Institute, they organized immersive themed residencies around ideas of ruinification, rewilding, and recalibrating relationships towards industrial waste landscapes.

In 2020, they relocated to Bangkok, where they were a design instructor and the Year 2 Coordinator at INDA, Chulalongkorn University until 2022. In Bangkok, they co-founded Monitor Lizard House, a project space where they researched the impact of climate change, shrimp farming and mangrove reintroduction in the salt plains of Samut Prakhan. 

Currently, they are a Ph.D. Research Fellow in Experimental Urban Planning, in the Department of Global Development and Planning, at the University of Agder, in Norway. They are working in the municipality of Giehtavuotna-Kvæfjord in Sápmi (Troms- Norwegian Arctic) developing an immersive residency workshop to identify and address power obduracy embedded in the landscape(s), build trans*ecological solidarity, and include more-than-human perspectives in planning.

Universitetet i Agder, Kristiansand NO 

—Ph.D. International Development and Planning (Experimental Urban Planning)

JUNE 2023 - MAY 2026

Strelka Institute, Moscow RU 

—Post Grad. Diploma in Urbanism

OCTOBER 2013 - JUNE 2014

Goldsmiths (U. of London), London UK 

—M.Res. Media & Communication (Architectural Research) -Distinction - La Caixa Award

OCTOBER 2012 - SEPTEMBER 2013

Goldsmiths (U. of London), London UK 

—M.A. Brand Development (Urban Sociology) -Distinction - La Caixa Award

OCTOBER 2011 - SEPTEMBER 2012

Reinwardt Academie, Amsterdam NL 

—M.Mus. Museology and Heritage Studies - Nuffic-Huygens Genius Fellowship from the Dutch Ministry of Culture

SEPTEMBER 2009 - SEPTEMBER 2011

The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow UK

—B.Arch. Architecture 

SEPTEMBER 2005 - JUNE 2008

Mahindra United World College of India, Pune IN

—International Baccalaureate - Full Scholarship from the Spanish National UWC Committee

AUGUST 2002 - JUNE 2004

HOUSE Publishing,  Dubai UAE

—Architectural Consultant for Architectural Guidelines for Saudi Arabia & Editor

SEPTEMBER 2022 - ONGOING (sporadically)

METASITU, Kyiv UA 

—Co-Founder & Director

MARCH 2014 - DECEMBER 2019

Netherlands Architecture Institute (Het Nieuwe Instituut), Rotterdam NL

—Researcher & Assistant Programmer

JANUARY 2010 - AUGUST 2010

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City US 

—Exhibition Designer

MAY 2009 - AUGUST 2009

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice IT 

—Intern

APRIL 2009

Trojan Horse Summer School, Narva EE

—Workshop leader

JUNE 2022 - JUNE  2022

Arctic Urbanism, Svalbard NO

—Project Lead & Tutor

MAY 2022 - JUNE  2022

INDA - Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok TH 

—Adjunct Professor of Design and Architecture & Year 2 Coordinator

JANUARY 2020 - JULY  2022

TUMO, Yerevan AM

—Tutor

APRIL 2016

Strelka Institute, Moscow RU 

—Co-curator of Educational Program & Tutor

JUNE 2015 -MARCH 2016

EASA-SESAM POLIKLINIKA, Slavutych UA 

—Residency Co-Organizer

OCTOBER 2018 - AUGUST 2021

ENCUENTROS NAVE - Art Residencies in LatAm, Santiago CL 

—Co-Director, Working Sessions Co-Host, Co-Editor

JANUARY 2021 - JULY  2022

MONITOR LIZARD HOUSE, Bangkok TH 

—Co-Founder / Organizer

JANUARY 2020 - JULY  2021

THE DEGROWTH INSTITUTE, UA 

—Co-founder & Workshop leader

AUGUST 2015 - DECEMBER  2019

WE ARE NEVER ALONE, Ivano Frankivsk UA 

—Residency Co-Organizer

JANUARY 2019 - JULY  2019

AFTER <ITY, Mariupol UA & Ruhr Belt DE 

—Residency Co-Organizer

JANUARY 2019 - JULY  2019

86 Festival, Slavutych & Chornobyl UA  

—Co-Director of Urbanism Program, Residency Co-Organizer

SEPT 2016 -JUNE 2018

City Scanning Sessions, Ivano Frankivsk UA

—Inaugural Artistic Co-Director + Chief Co-Curator

MARCH 2017 - AUGUST 2017

metamatic:TAF, Athens GR

—Artistic Co-Director

SEPTEMBER 2015 - MARCH 2017