Belinda van der Lingen has a Masters degree in Japanese Language and Culture from the University of Leyden. She has lived and worked in various cities around the world, including London and Tokyo. Back in Amsterdam she started her career at Regus office rentals and other real estate businesses holding various management positions. Before starting at BURA Urbanism she previously worked at S333 Studio for Architecture & Urbanism. She has a great interest in architecture, design and fashion.

Irene Swinkels (1980) has a Bachelor’s degree in Facility Management and has worked in various places structuring offices and supporting management. She has lived and worked in London, Madrid and Hamburg and knows her languages well. Besides taking care of the BURA office, she also helps others in taking care of body and mind as a yoga teacher.

Robert ten Elsen (1968) is registered Master of Urbanism with extensive experience in strategic planning and design. His career is peppered with knowledge about Dutch and Asian urban development and transformations. After living and working in China for many years, he returned to his native country in 2020. At BURA he wants to use his knowledge and skills with regard to strategic interventions, but also to tackle the contemporary challenges in sustainable and complex urban developments.

Christa Rinzema studied Architecture at ETH Zürich and lives in Amsterdam since 1995. After working for fourteen years as senior architect at de Architekten Cie. on architectonical and urban planning projects like Funenpark Amsterdam, she set up her own office and became periodically guest teacher at the Faculty of Architecture & Built Environment at TUDelft and at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. Since 2021 she works as senior projectleader at BURA urbanism.

Bart Claassen (1982) is an urban designer, who graduated from the TU Eindhoven on a research about heat mitigation in cities. He worked in architectural and urban design companies in the Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium. Bart worked on projects on various scales, ranging from small scale architectural interventions to eco-districts, and in different countries. Bart has a special interest in sustainability within urban design.

Jordy Stamps (1988) is an urban geographer and urban designer. He studied at Utrecht University (NL) and NHTV (NL) and has been working at BURA since January 2017. There he works on projects in the field of research, strategy and urban development plans. From his start, Jordy has been involved in the urban development plan for the new Merwede urban district in Utrecht; a green, car-free city district with amenities within easy reach.

Geert Das (1979) has worked in urban research since his graduation in 2009 from the TU/e as an architect. He worked on a range of research projects for the university and as a freelance researcher. Among his work are historic studies on post-war inner-city redevelopment in the Netherlands and on the relation between religious heritage, landscapes and urban morphogenesis. At BURA he will lead our research projects and will support the research for the design projects.

Yunshih Chen is an architect from Taiwan. She has worked as architecture and urban designer in private offices and the Municipality of Taipei. During 2015-2017, she attended the European Post-Masters in Urbanism in TU Delft where she graduated with Cum laude. She is enthusiastic in various urban questions, especially in landscape infrastructure, design with water and the integration of urban thinking and architecture.

Milja Hartikainen is an architect from Finland. She graduated cum laude after studying at Aalto University and TU Berlin. Previously she worked in architecture and urban design offices, in Finland and in the Netherlands, and at the architecture faculty of TU Berlin. Working on projects from building and neighbourhood scale designs she designed both concepts and realisations. Her aim in work and design is to imagine and facilitate better and more resilient (urban) life with empathy.

Saskia Kleij is an assistant urban designer. She graduated in History of Art at the University of Amsterdam with a specialisation in history of architecture and urbanism. In september 2019 she started the master Urbanism at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. She is especially interested in the interdisciplinary character of urbanism and the wide range of aspects that are important in an urban design, like sustainability, the experience of the user and the history of a place.

Basia van Rijt (1991) is an urban designer. She graduated in urbanism from the TU Delft in 2017. Besides working as a designer she teaches at the TU Delft and the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. By using research as a design method she aspires to contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive future.

Magda Szcypka is an architect and urban designer. She graduated in 2008 from Silesian Technical University in Gliwice, Poland. Since then she has been working at various design offices in the Netherlands and at her own practice. She mostly focuses on strategic and conceptual stages of projects. Urban densification and incorporating employment use in mixed use neighbourhoods are the areas of her expertise. Additionally, she has an interest in the topic of inclusivity of cities and public spaces.

Rebecca Smink (1995) is a junior urban designer who recently earned her master’s degree in urbanism from Delft University of Technology. Before graduating she followed several design courses at universities in Delft, Amsterdam and Melbourne. During her studies, she worked on projects at a range of scales for various design offices. Designing for people has been her key motivator, therefore she aims to develop valuable knowledge and ways of positively impacting socio-spatial processes in cities.

Frank de Boer (1992) is an assistant urban designer. He graduated at the Art Academy Minerva in Groningen with a degree in autonomous Fine Arts. In September 2021 he started the master Urbanism at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. Frank is interested in sustainable urbanism, especially in how urban design will mitigate challenges related to sustainability.

Ana Margarida Antunes (1999) is a fifth year architecture student in FAUP (Porto, Portugal). After 4 years in Porto, 5 months in Versailles, France, and a few visits to The Netherlands, an ambition to work in Amsterdam grew on her. As a firm-believer that architecture is responsible for how people view society, she feels that architecture can change people’s behaviour towards society. In 6 months, she hopes she will learn how to change and improve society with design.

Matthijs Breunissen (2001) is a fourth year International Spatial Development student at Breda University of Applied Sciences. During his bachelor he is specializing in urbanism by doing internships at bureaus and following the minor urbanism and landscape architecture at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. During his graduation internship at BURA, his goal is to conduct research by design, in particular about densification.

Alessandro Martini (1996) graduated in Planning and Policies for the City, Environment and Landscape at DADU (Alghero, Italy) in April 2022. During his university career, he specialised in analysing urban, environmental and territorial dynamics. Alessandro is particularly interested in environmental issues, especially in how urban planning and urban design can mitigate the challenges related to climate change.