Michiel Van Balen graduated in 2006 as a civil engineer and architect and has a passion for travelling and complex urban environments. After studying and working as an urban designer in Leuven, Brussels, post tsunami Sri Lanka and pre Fifa World Cup South Africa he co-founded Latitude Platform, an international organization for urban and territorial research and Design.

Simultaneously he started working as the project coordinator for the renovation of the former brewery De Hoorn in Leuven. This abandoned monument had been bought by 7 local creative entrepreneurs to transform it into a creative hub. This alternative real estate development strategy turned out to be a powerful bottom-up approach to urban design that led to the co-founding of Miss Miyagi in 2015.

Miss Miyagi is an urban activist, down to earth action hero and pain in the ass. She believes that cities need to be built by its users, rather than the present amalgam of commercial real-estate developers. Therefor she initiates and coordinates alternative real-estate projects developed by the actual end-users themselves. Miss Miyagi initiated and coordinated (amongst others) the project of Hal5.