Ioana Petkova is a spatial researcher, educator and practitioner. She holds a degree from the University of Applied Arts Vienna and a doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London. She is currently a lecturer at the London South Bank University, where she runs a design-build lab with organizations from the voluntary community sector. She teaches and writes on the topics of urban commons and the democratization of architectural practice, both as a question of labour and the ethics of designing the city.