Kaarin Taipale is a world expert in urban sustainability. She is visiting professor in the Urban Laboratory at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. She is a former senior visiting fellow at the Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research with the Helsinki School of Economics, Finland. She is the coordinator of the UN-initiated Marrakech Task Force on Sustainable Buildings and Construction and is the former Chair of Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI).