Giovanni Fontana Antonelli is an architect and regional planner graduated from Florence University (Italy) in 1994. Specialized in conservation and management of historic towns and landscapes, he joined UNESCO in 1998, as Culture Programme Specialist. His work focuses on historic preservation, museum development, capacity building, with emphasis on sustaining local communities. He owns extensive experience in Sub-saharan Africa (various countries in 1998-2002 and 2013), Palestine (2003-2012 and 2017), Jordan (2014-2017) and Iraq (2013-2017), where he designed and managed more than fifty projects. In 1997 he funded the non-profit organization Archi.Media (which became a Trust in 2002 and a Trust-Onlus in 2017) focusing on human settlements, cultural development, social justice and human rights through education and communication. Keynote speaker in international conferences and symposia, he is author of more than sixty papers, articles and book chapters on historic towns, cultural landscapes and cultural management; he is co-editor of the two-volume publication “Bethlehem Area Conservation and Management Plan” (Paris: 2012) and the photographic book “The Land That Remains” (Berlin: 2016). The advocacy planning for the protection of the agricultural dry-stone terraces and irrigation systems of Battir (2006-2013) was awarded the “Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding of Cultural Landscapes” in 2011. The project “Reviving of earthen architecture in the Jordan Valley towards adequate housing for marginalized communities” was nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2013 and 2016. Since 2017 he is Chief Executive Officer and Programme Director, Just Cities/Culture and Development at ARCHI.MEDIA TRUST-ONLUS.