I am a Lecturer in Architecture at ESALA, The University of Edinburgh, and a Research Associate at  the Research Centre for Urban Studies, Heriot Watt University. I am a registered architect in the UK and Spain, urban designer and researcher, co-founder and partner in award-winning design studio Cuartoymitad Architecture & Landscape. I have a PhD in Urban Studies (Heriot-Watt University 2023), and completed my education in Madrid at ETSAM, Politécnica University (MArch & MA Architecture 2003) and Complutense University (MScR Urban Geography 2011). I have been visiting faculty at EAM Málaga (2023), KIT Karlsruhe (2022), TU Graz (2008) and UEM Madrid (2006).

My research spans across the fields of urban design, urban planning and architecture around issues of social sustainability and diversity. I am interested in innovative qualitative and participatory approaches for the study of the relationships between people and the built environment, in particular in the peripheries of cities.

My professional studio practice is designed as a laboratory of innovative ideas which have been exhibited internationally, most notably at the 11th edition of the Venice Biennale. Recently finished projects include the Master Plan for Sustainable Living in the Faroe Islands (Finalist, Nordic Built Cities Challenge International Competition 2016), the conversion of an eighteenth-century fortress into the Monte Buciero Museum in Santoña, Spain (Próxima-Arquia award 2014) and the ephemeral architecture for the Zinc Shower event in Madrid (COAM award 2014 and Próxima-Arquia award 2014). 

My research explores how urban design processes can foster more inclusive and sustainable public spaces, especially in the peripheries of cities. I’m interested in debates around public participation, co-creation, spatial justice and social sustainability. My doctoral PhD research examined urban vitality in non-central residential areas through ethnographic and design-led methodologies. I am currently working on research projects around Climate Change Adaptation in vulnerable communities in Medellín, Colombia (Heriot Watt University) and post-conflict Urban Regeneration in Ukraine (ESALA).

Social sustainability

Urban governance

Participatory planning

Co-design

Public space design

Urban development in the Global South

Qualitative research methods