Dr Catalina Ionita is an Architect, Urban Designer and Studio Director at Planit, working at the intersection of design, regeneration and long-term social value. She leads complex masterplanning and placemaking projects, bringing together clients, communities and multidisciplinary teams to shape places that are commercially grounded, environmentally resilient and rooted in their local context.
She is particularly interested in how landscape-led design, stewardship and urban activation can create enduring value, not only through what is built, but through how places evolve and support everyday life. Alongside project leadership, Catalina helps grow teams, strengthen client relationships and advance more integrated approaches across urban design, landscape architecture, engagement and visualisation.
Her PhD explored how artist-led spaces can act as urban activators and catalysts for social and economic change, informing her wider interest in regenerative placemaking, belonging and the long-term life of places.
As Vice Chair of Women in Property North West, a member of the Salford Design Review Forum and a Design Advisor to the Association of Rental Living, Catalina contributes to wider conversations around inclusive leadership, urban living and the future of the built environment. She regularly speaks and writes about regenerative placemaking, belonging, urban activation, inclusive design and leadership.