October Days for Sustainable Development

21 October 2021

Rethinking Cities: from Smart to Human

Ilona Eklona

Former Director, ESPON EGTC

Former Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Latvia

Ilona Anna Eklona has many years of experience in European territorial development policy thanks to her roles as director of the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) European Grouping on Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) and in the Latvian government.

Within the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia, Ilona worked extensively on development planning before taking up the position of Deputy State Secretary between 2012 and 2016.

In addition, Ilona regularly gave lectures on territorial development at universities across Latvia and was actively involved in international development cooperation projects. She is an active promoter of a place-based approach in development policy, advocating for a more strategic approach, the empowerment of subnational authorities and greater cooperation among places beyond their administrative boundaries. Her educational background is in political science.