Joe Ravetz is Co-Director of the Centre for Urban & Regional Ecology at the University of Manchester.  He researches and promotes sustainable cities and regions, and specializes in foresight / future studies for environmental and urban science / policy, new economics and collaborative governance.  Joe’s main publications include the best selling ‘City-Region 2020’: ‘Environment and City’ (co-authored), and the forthcoming ‘City 3.0: pathways from smart to wise' (Earthscan / Routledge).

Through these a unique research agenda has emerged, on ‘collective intelligence’ in cities and their social, economic, technical and governance systems. With a background as an architect, planner and partnership manager, Joe has designed a visual language for exploring complex systems which are ‘cognitive, collaborative, co-evolutionary’ (“3C”). This can help to generate insights and ways forward for ‘grand societal challenges’ such as climate change, urban poverty or economic resilience.

Joe also has a strand as a graphic facilitator and cartoonist, and as a keen advocate of visual thinking in foresight / futures / sustainability process work. He has worked with the UN Industrial Development Organization & UN Habitat, Institute for Alternative Futures, Rockefeller Foundation, WWF-International, Manchester Institute for Innovation Research, European Commission DG Regio, UK Department of Environment, Environment Agency, Regional Development Agencies, Government Office of Science Foresight, UK Research Councils and various professional bodies. He is a board member of Foresight Journal and Sustainable Mediterranean Construction; coordinator of the Greater Manchester Policy Exchange; Principal at SAMI Consulting; and delivers training courses, seminars, keynotes and review services around Europe and beyond.