James MacDonald-Nelson

James MacDonald-Nelson

Cities Programme Lead

James MacDonald-Nelson is the Cities Programme Lead at DemocracyNext. 

James is a designer with degrees in landscape architecture, urbanism, and global development studies. Having studied and worked in spatial practice for 10 years in Canada and Europe, James has a deep knowledge of how the built environment is transformed and managed - and how often citizens are left out of these processes. 

At DemocracyNext, James is responsible for all things cities-related. This includes managing collaborations with cities around the world who have partnered with DemNext to broaden and deepen citizen participation and deliberation in urban planning decision-making processes - with Citizens’ Assemblies playing a central role. 

Alongside DemNext Fellow Gustav Kjær Vad Nielsen, James also leads the area of research and speculative design for the physical conditions and infrastructure needed for a more deliberative democracy.

James is from Ottawa, Canada and is based in Berlin, Germany. He speaks English and French, and intermediate Italian and German.

Email James

Our newsletter

Powered by Substack. Read the privacy policy. We will not spam you.

Read more

Follow along