Muhammad Kurniawan is a PhD student in the program of urban and regional studies at School of Geographic, Earth, and Environmental Science (GEES), University of Birmingham, UK. He has academic background in GIS and public governance. Prior to starting his doctoral studies, he had 18 years experiences working for local government in Indonesia. His research explores the power of VGI as well as crowd-source and open spatial data to influence public authorities in the urban planning sector. He hopes that the results of his research can contribute in advancing urban planning process to develop inclusive, accountable, and sustainable public policy and public action. Besides a family man, he also actively joins in local communities, interact with local youth with sharing sessions, and engaging in social and religious activities. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and sport.