Aminah is the Senior Manager, Capacity Building at NACTO, leading the strategy for curricular opportunities that train city transportation professionals to advance sustainable and just design, policy, and organizational culture.

Aminah is an architect, urbanist, writer, and teacher who created Future Planners to include and empower children in the process of improving our cities. She helps schools, public and private institutions, and NGOs and governments in the US, Europe, and Asia recognize the benefit of embracing the unique perspective and experience of children in the city design process, including consultation on the NACTO-GDCI’s Designing Streets for Kids.

She earned degrees in Architecture and Building Engineering at the Università degli Studi di Roma Tre and in English Literature at Carleton College. She is fluent in Italian and spent over a decade living in Italy, designing, renovating, and restoring historic buildings while managing artisans and builders.

Aminah is also the creator of Mila & The Marvelous City, a series of books which encourages children to see the city as theirs, supporting their evolution from passive to active observers on the streets they traverse everyday.

A passionate advocate for walkable and bike-friendly cities, she puts her feet where her views are every day of the week. Aminah loves cities, has lived in 9 and visited more than 100 worldwide, and believes in their potential to serve the needs of all residents, especially the young ones!  She lives with her husband and their daughter, the original city-zen.