Vasiliki (Valina) Geropanta is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning with New Technologies at the Technical University of Crete, Faculty of Architecture. She holds a PhD in the field of the Smart City from the Università degli studi di Roma, Sapienza, Italy, an Ma in Housing & Urbanism from Architectural Association, School of Architecture, London, UK, and a Master’s Degree of Architect-Engineer from the University of Patras. Her research interests are on the transformation of cities because of the contemporary global challenges, through the smart - intelligent city model. Her latest research projects look at ICT methodologies for making human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; at contemporary approaches to conservation and promotion of cultural heritage with the use of ICT; at sustainable - smart tourism; and an exploration of the future of architectural education. She has participated in European research projects in capacity building in the field of Smart Tourism and Smart City (e.g. LMPΤ and Discover - Erasmus Plus, KA2), while she has been awarded grants for research and lecturing in Cambridge, India, Korea, Peru, Qatar, Vietnam, Italy and Lebanon. She has published extensively on urban and architectural issues with ICT, smart cities, smart tourism etc. and she is the co-editor of two books. She has also extensive participation in international conferences, workshops, seminars, while she currently serves as a reviewer and part of the editorial board of four international scientific journals. In 2018, she was nominated for the RIBA International Award 2019 for her contribution in Architecture through leadership of thought, education and research. The same year she was selected to open the 7ο International symposium of the UNESCO chairs in Peru, discussing the impact of ICT in the cultural revival of Rome. In 2018 she founded Avrions, (www.avrions.com), an activity that aims at raising awareness for the use of ICT in contemporary cities and at creating a mechanism of knowledge distribution and exchange with the objective to bring cultural and spatial innovation.