Chelina Odbert is Co-founder and Principal of Kounkuey Design Initiative. KDI is an innovative partnership specializing in the practice of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning in areas where environmental degradation compromises quality of life. Chelina co-founded KDI in 2006, while in graduate school. Since then she has worked with community members in the slum of Kibera, Nairobi to design and implement a network of "Productive Public Spaces" (PPS) — open spaces that link physical upgrading to micro-enterprise and social empowerment. The PPS Network has won several international awards and was recently featured as part of the Smithsonian’s Design with the Other 90%: CITIES. She has been invited to speak about her work at universities around the globe and has written about it for Forbes and the forthcoming book, Emergent Urbanism. In 2007, along with partner Jennifer Toy, Chelina was awarded the Van Alen Institute New York Prize for her contribution to public architecture and design. Chelina has also worked on participatory planning and design projects in India, Brazil, Honduras, and the United States. She earned her BA Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Claremont McKenna College. She completed her Masters of Urban Planning at Harvard University. In her spare time she enjoys traveling and eating.
