Visiting Scholars

Allentza Michel is an urban planner, artist, researcher and policy advocate with a background in community organizing and program design and implementation. She has 17 years of professional experience in various non-profit and public sector roles at the local, national and international level. She is Founder and Managing Principal of Power Pathways Consulting. Allentza received her Master of Public Policy from the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, where she was a Neighborhood Fellow. She was the inaugural fellow with the Association for Community Design in 2015 and the 2016 Creative Community Fellow with National Arts Strategies. She has BAs in English and Social and Political Systems from Pine Manor College and a graduate certificate in Non-profit Management from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.

Harry Smith is a Community Development and Organizing consultant with 25 years experience in the field. He most recently served as Director of Sustainable Economic Development for the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, including managing the activities of Dudley Neighbors Inc. Community Land Trust, one of the nation’s largest urban land trusts. He currently works with a number of community-based organizations on projects related to community organizing, land use, strategic planning, and support for emerging community land trusts. He earned a B.A. from Brown University and an M.S. in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University.

Orwa Switat is an urban planning scholar, practitioner, and activist in the realm of state-minority relations in urban planning. He holds a PhD and M.Sc. degrees from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. His research has critically examined the intersections of urban planning and state - minority relations. Complementing his advanced degrees, he possesses BAs in both Philosophy and Political Science from Haifa University.

In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Orwa actively collaborates with municipal and governmental entities, providing consultancy on social integration within urban planning projects in Israel. Orwa also works as a consultant for civil society organizations in the fields of urban justice and planning rights among social and minority groups.

Furthermore, Orwa has been contributing his expertise to the realm of architectural heritage preservation since 2019, serving on Haifa's municipal committee for historical building preservation, as a public representative and planning expert.