Pierre-Alexandre Balland is an assistant professor of economic geography at Utrecht University (Netherlands) and a visiting professor at the Media Lab.
Balland studies cities and tries to understand why some are richer, more inclusive, or more sustainable than others, and what we can do to solve the growing gap between superstar cities and the rest of the world. On a more applied side, he works with different stakeholders to develop strategic diagnostic tools to map roads to economic growth and well being.
Pierre-Alexandre is originally from the South of France (Toulouse), and he received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Toulouse in 2010. He previously held positions at the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Lund, and the University of Toulouse.