The Global Health Institute’s May Global Health Tuesday Webinar was held on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Linda Vakunta, Deputy Mayor of Madison, moderated a timely conversation on Cities, Climate Change, and Health.
Vakunta led the discussion with Eduardo Santana Castellón, Director, Museum of Environmental Sciences, and Emeritus Professor, University of Guadalajara; Marta Rofín Serrà, Founder & CEO, Healthy Cities, and Director, “Urban Planning & Health,” Polytechnic University of Catalonia; and Carlos Moreno, Professor, IAE Paris Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Author, The 15-Minute City: A Solution to Saving Our Time & Our Planet.
You can find a link to the recorded session here.
MEET THE MODERATOR:
Dr. Linda Vakunta, Deputy Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
Dr. Linda Vakunta joined the Mayor’s Office in 2019, to assist with housing, economic development, and human services with more than a decade of experience in grassroots community engagement and program development, monitoring and evaluation work.
She served as program director at the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance International (HAI), where she led, developed, and designed training programs for government, community, and non-governmental organizations to combat trafficking in persons. In recent years, she worked as a researcher with Sustaining Natural Circle’s CDC funded grant on understanding impacts of opioid use among African American women in Madison. Dr. Vakunta served as founding executive director for Project 1808 Inc (2009-2019) and was instrumental in its growth, success, and global-local recognition for transforming lives, enabling youth and adults, and building capacity in Sierra Leone through School-Community-University Partnership Models. She is a longtime host of WORT 89.9 FM’s Pan Africa Radio Show.
She holds a PhD in Environmental Studies, a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
MEET THE PANELISTS:
Eduardo Santana Castellón, Director of the Museum of Environmental Sciences and Emeritus Professor at the University of Guadalajara
For over two decades, Eduardo Santana Castellón has been adjunct professor and visiting scholar at UW-Madison, where he obtained his BSc (’79), MSc (’85) and Ph.D. (’00) degrees in wildlife ecology and zoology. He was born in Cuba, grew up in Puerto Rico and has lived in Mexico since 1985. He has created undergraduate and graduate programs, academic institutes, civil associations, natural protected areas, and novel local governance mechanisms for watershed management.
With his collaborators, he created the City and Nature José Emilio Pacheco Literature Award, the Socio-Environmental Film Award, and the International Colloquium on Biodiversity, Natural Resources, and Society. Given the museum mission of “understanding the city and inspiring the conservation of nature that sustains it” he has actively participated with UN-Habitat in analyzing and promoting the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, in various Biodiversity COP meetings and World Urban Forums. His work has included defending the territories of Nahua and Wixárika indigenous communities in western Mexico and designing the conservation program for Cuba for the World Wildlife Fund.
He has participated in the governing bodies of the Society for Conservation Biology, the Association for Tropical Biology, and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, as well as serving as a juror for various film, journalism, and ornithology awards. Individually and collectively, he has received over 40 national and international awards. He has directed more than 30 theses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, generated over 150 technical and dissemination publications, and has been a guest speaker at more than 100 institutions.
Marta Rofín Serrà, Founder & CEO, Healthy Cities; Director, “Urban Planning & Health,” Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Architect and urban planner, with a long professional experience in master planning, urban management, and the incorporation of health in urban development, Marta Rofín Serrà is the founder and CEO of Healthy Cities, and is the Director of the Postgraduate Course “Urban planning and health” at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). She is also a lecturer of the Master’s degree in Community Health Promotion at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU).
In her work at Healthy Cities she develops urban health strategies, health impact assessment, research and training projects, and over the last few years she has led the design and development of the “Healthy Cities Generator” health impact assessment tool.
She has worked in both the public and private sectors. During her work for the City Council of Vic (Barcelona) she drafted the city’s Master Plan (Catalonia Urbanism Award 2020), led the project “implementation of indicators and evaluation of the impact on health of urban planning” and coordinated the European project URBACT-Healthy Cities network.
She has also collaborated with the University of Vic, the Barcelona Provincial government (DIBA), the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB) and several Urban Planning Authorities as an advisor for the incorporation of the health perspective in urban planning.
She is the author of several publications, including the “Guide for incorporating health into master planning,” “Cities and Health” or “Urban planning for healthy cities.”
Carlos Moreno, Professor,IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; Author, The 15-Minute City: A Solution to Saving Our Time & Our Planet
Carlos Moreno is a distinguished Franco-Colombian urban planner and professor, residing in Paris. He is best known for pioneering the “15-Minute City” concept, which promotes sustainable, human-centric urban living. This concept has been widely adopted by mayors and international organizations working towards more sustainable cities around the world and has since become a global movement.
In Paris, his ideas have been embraced by the city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, contributing to the city’s transformation. Serving as a scientific advisor to various international organizations, he is recognized for his contributions to urban planning. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Housing and Communities.
As a professor at the IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, his work has earned international acclaim, including the OBEL Award in 2021, the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2022, and the Global Leadership Award for Sustainable Development from the Global Forum on Human Settlements in 2024 at the GFHS Annual Session at the UN Headquarters. In 2023, he was inducted into Sigma Xi, the world’s largest scientific honor society, founded in 1886 at Cornell University. His books have been translated into numerous languages, reflecting his global influence.
Pr. Moreno actively contributes to the global discourse on urban and territorial transformation, focusing on creating livable cities that prioritize residents’ well-being.