Sofia Song

Sofia is the global leader of Cities Research at Gensler’s Research Institute, where she manages a cross-disciplinary team of designers, architects, planners, economists, and technologists, to generate new insights and data that extend beyond a single building to communities, neighborhoods, and cities. She positions Gensler as a cities thought leader to influence change at the city scale. Spanning across five global regions, her work focuses on assessing the human experience in urban centers, including the critical impact of the pandemic on cities in terms of satisfaction, move intentions, safety and affordability, urban mobility, and the future of central business districts.

As a member of the Urban Land Institute, Sofia participates within the ULI Global Exchange Product Council, the WLI, and the ULI NY Foundations Fellows committee. She also represented Gensler as a Strategy Officer at the World Economic Forum, where she worked closely with partners from renowned organizations to explore how industries can catalyze change in order to solve today’s biggest global challenges.

A media spokesperson and frequent speaker, Sofia’s ongoing research on cities is cited by publications including Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, and Commercial Observer, and she has been invited to speak at premier industry conferences including SXSW, Fast Company Innovation Festival, WrldCty, YPO Edge, and ULI.

She draws upon her previous experiences leading research at various proptech/real estate companies, such as StreetEasy.com, Compass, and Douglas Elliman. With a background in economics and urban planning, Sofia began her career in transit planning in Los Angeles, community planning in Pasadena, and in public space planning and transit-oriented development in New York City.