Ilaria Casillo was appointed Vice-Chair of the National Commission for Public Debate by decree of the President of the Republic, the first time in 2015 and the second time in October 2020. She has a doctorate in geography and is a lecturer on secondment at the Ecole d’Urbanisme de Paris and a researcher in the Lab’Urba laboratory. Her research focuses on participatory processes, both institutional and spontaneous, in the management of space, environmental conflicts, and the processes of urban transformation and gentrification. From 2012 to 2015 she was co-chair of the Independent Authority for Participation of the Region of Tuscany, Italy. From 2011 to 2013 she worked at the CNRS for the GIS ‘Democracy and Participation’, where she was the scientific and editorial coordinator of the first critical and interdisciplinary dictionary of participation. She has worked for various French local authorities in setting up participatory approaches and collaborated with various international organisations (OSCE, UNESCO) and non-governmental organisations.