What We Do
Ilana Lipsett
Senior Program Manager
Ilana Lipsett is a community design strategist whose work uses participatory design and community engagement to inform future-focused policy, economic, and international development. Ilana works to create public engagement opportunities for cities, developers, NGO’s, and creative communities around the globe to help imagine and design what the future of their cities could look like. Her practice examines how community participation and resident-led placemaking initiatives will shape the future of cities to be more inclusive and equitable.
She has facilitated civic imagination processes and activated spaces to catalyze community development through art, culture, dialog, public input, and economic opportunity. She was recognized by the Obama White House as a “Champion of Change in Civic Innovation" for her work co-founding freespace, an initiative to temporarily transform vacant spaces into community, cultural and arts hubs.
Ilana has led diverse initiatives on the future of work. She served as the Political Director of a labor union, and spent years as a community organizer for workers' rights in Washington DC, leading successful legislative campaigns to secure and protect workers' rights. She has also worked with international NGO's to create gathering spaces and opportunities for refugees, and has led numerous advocacy and political campaigns for social and environmental justice. Ilana is a skilled facilitator and has led workshops for a wide range of clients helping them to develop long-term strategies for civic projects.
She holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from the Presidio Graduate School, and is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, where she works with developers and cities to improve their public planning processes and strategic engagement campaigns.