evO (a) lAb

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Spatial Determinants of Health

I'm honored to be part of the 2026 cohort of the Academy for Public Scholarship on the Built Environment: Spatial Determinants of Health, convened by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) in partnership with The OpEd Project.

Over the coming months, twelve of us will work to bring research on health and the built environment into wider public conversation—learning to write for readers beyond the academy, and to make the case for why the design of our cities shapes how people actually live.

The Academy and The OpEd Project exist to widen who gets to shape that conversation—to bring more voices and more kinds of expertise into the room. This cohort spans diverse geographies and questions, and I'm glad to bring a perspective from Mexico and the Global South to it: how landscape, water, and green space shape well-being in Latin American cities. I expect to learn as much from my eleven colleagues as I contribute.

For me, the throughline is simple: the built environment is, in effect, public-health infrastructure. Landscape is not decoration laid over the city—it shapes how we feel, how we live, and who gets to be well.

Gratitude to ACSA, to The OpEd Project, and to the colleagues and collaborators who have shaped this work along the way. More soon.

https://www.acsa-arch.org/.../spatial-determinants-of.../

EAAD Querétaro, Escuela de Arquitectura, Arte y Diseño Tec de Monterrey

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Excited and grateful to collaborate with Piedad MGLucas Hoops, Enrique García Alcalá, and Mauricio Vásquez-Rendón on this multidisciplinary project exploring food waste through art installation, architecture, and scientific research.

What makes these collaborations truly valuable is the opportunity to connect different perspectives, disciplines, and creative processes toward a shared conversation about sustainability, material culture, and the environmental challenges we face today.

Thankful to work alongside such talented and committed colleagues within our Escuela de Arquitectura, Arte y Diseño at Tecnológico de Monterrey. Looking forward to continuing the research, experimentation, and collective learning that emerge from projects like this.

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What a thesis jury actually asks of you

Today I had the honor of serving as an external jury member for final-year thesis defenses at the School of Architecture, Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro — at the invitation of Fernando Velasco Rivera Torres and Jorge Roberto Javier Tortajada.

Tenth semester. The last formal moment before these students cross into professional practice.

What stays with me after these sessions is never the drawings — it is the quality of the argument. The students who stand most confidently are not necessarily those with the most polished renders, but those who can answer a simple, difficult question: why this, here, for whom?

That triangle — intervention, place, community — is the core of every architectural decision worth making. Teaching students to answer it honestly, before they answer it beautifully, is the quiet work of architectural education.

My thanks to the Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro for the invitation, and to the graduating class of today: the discipline needs the questions you are asking.

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Honored to join the Sociedad de Arquitectos Paisajistas de México (SAPmx) — an institution with over fifty years of leadership in promoting, implementing, and protecting landscape architecture in Mexico, and an affiliate of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA).

A meaningful step toward deeper engagement with the study and care of the Mexican landscape.

https://www.sapmx.com/

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Our team is building an art installation from food waste — and turning it into research.

An interdisciplinary collaboration between Colombia and Mexico is in production on *Restos/Recursos* (Remains/Resources): an ephemeral installation made from agro-industrial residues — nopal, maize, and coffee — transformed into biopolymer sheets, smart textiles, and modular spatial structures.

Biogenic residues are not treated as waste here. They are the primary agents: culturally grounded, technologically valorized, and designed to decompose and return to the earth.

This process is the foundation of a peer-reviewed paper, *Biogenic Residues as Active Matter*, to be submitted soon-

Proud to be working with a team that refuses to separate making from thinking.

Team: Piedad MG ,Mauricio Vásquez (Universidad de Medellín), Lucas Hoops , Enrique García, Rodrigo Pantoja-Calderón

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AI-Driven Design Ecologies for Architectural Pedagogy.

Honored to be part of the *AI-Driven Design Ecologies for Architectural Pedagogy* — a faculty seminar led by Dr. Shermeen Yousif, Ph.D. Director of the Performative AI Lab at UT Arlington and Founder of Deep Eco-Design Studio. Exploring how AI is reshaping design intelligence, architecture education, and authorship.

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A privilege to return once again to Module 3 of the Diploma in Interior Design within the Continuing Education program at Tecnológico de Monterrey, this time alongside my colleague and partner Ana Jim. Module 3 explores residential, commercial, and office spaces, but my approach goes beyond technical and design considerations.

I am increasingly convinced that interior architecture is one of the most immediate interfaces between the built environment and human well-being. Spatial configurations influence stress levels, emotional regulation, perception, and behavior in measurable, significant ways — positioning thoughtful design not merely as an aesthetic practice but as a form of preventive public health.

In this spirit, I encourage students to move beyond convention and develop proposals that are simultaneously technically grounded, economically viable, and deeply attentive to the people who will inhabit those spaces. The projects that emerge from this group never fail to reaffirm why this work matters.

Grateful to Berenice Chavero and the Experiences and Operations team for their continued trust and support.

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Grateful for the opportunity to serve as an instructor in the Diploma of Specialist in Garden Design at DMAD Escuela de Diseño (Madrid, Spain), accredited by Universidad Nebrija—an institution recognized with the highest QS Stars rating for academic excellence.

In Module 3 — Applied Botany in Landscape Architecture: Creating Public Garden Projects — we examined how understanding nature-based solutions supports the technical, ecological, and social aspects of designing resilient public spaces.

It was a privilege to engage with such a diverse and talented international cohort (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, Russia, and Venezuela. Many thanks to the faculty, students, and organizers for an inspiring exchange of ideas and design perspectives.

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Grateful for the opportunity to serve as an instructor in the Diploma of Specialist in Garden Design at DMAD Escuela de Diseño (Madrid, Spain), accredited by Universidad Nebrija, alongside a diverse group of students from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Russia, Spain, and Venezuela.

In Module 3 — Applied Botany to Landscape Architecture: New Approaches for Sustainable Cities, we explored how botanical knowledge can inform the design of healthier, climate-responsive urban landscapes.

Many thanks to the faculty, students, and organizers for such an inspiring exchange of ideas and perspectives

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Honored to speak at the Specialization Seminar in Landscape Design organized by the Faculty of Architecture at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo.

My talk, “Sowing Health in the City: Edible Landscapes Against the Food Paradox,” explored how landscape design can foster community engagement, strengthen territorial identity, and support social cohesion.

My sincere thanks to Erika E. Pérez, Eri Muz, and Luis Jacobo Villafuerte for the coordination and invitation, and to all participants for the enriching exchange of ideas.

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EDRA Great Places Award Jury

It is a privilege to participate as a juror in the 2026 EDRA Great Places Award, organized by the Environmental Design Research Association — a leading international body dedicated to advancing research, education, and practice at the intersection of people, their built environments, and natural ecosystems.

Alongside fellow jurors, I have had the rewarding task of evaluating outstanding proposals in the Research category and contributing to the selection of the most impactful submissions. The final award recipients will be announced at EDRA's 57th Annual Conference, hosted by UMass Amherst in Massachusetts, on May 27.

Looking forward to celebrating excellence in environment-behavior research and design.

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Honored to contribute to Depletion: A Design Inquiry, an exhibition conceived and curated by the Delta Design Research Group at TU Delft and the Journal of Delta Urbanism.

Our contribution, Designing with the Exhausted Ground, draws from Projects for the Future City — a third-year architecture design studio at Tecnológico de Monterrey Querétaro. The studio, co-coordinated by my colleague Diana Garcia and me, reframes depletion not as an endpoint, but as a generative force: transforming post-industrial landscapes through energy recovery, soil regeneration, and social resilience. Three student teams brought this vision to life through PUNTO, Soilscapes, and Memento Mori — each advancing a distinct dimension of climate justice in México.

This work would not have been possible without the dedication of an exceptional team of advisors and the remarkable creative work of our students.

Studio Coordination: Rodrigo Pantoja-Calderón, MLA; Diana García-Cejudo, MSc Urb, M Arch — Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Querétaro. Project Advisors: Viviana BarqueroYetzi TafoyaPedro Mendoza HDany CnAndrea PargaRoberto Cevada González

Student Teams — PUNTO: Valeria Márquez, Alesia Armas Sámano, Diego Ramirez Cabral, Soilscapes: Balam Bravo Almehua , Gabriela Olvera, Jorge León Contreras Memento Mori: Ana M. Cano, Gabriel Leyva, Alejandra Roldan, Ivan Piñeiro

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Why cities need to grow like forests.

Cities don’t need to grow bigger; they need to grow smarter, like forests.

In this new article, I explore how urban systems can shift from extraction to regeneration, using landscape as infrastructure to enhance resilience, biodiversity, and human well-being.

Drawing from landscape urbanism and ecological thinking, the piece argues for cities that operate as living systems capable of adapting, cooling, and sustaining life.

As research shows, integrating nature into urban environments improves climate resilience, air quality, and public health, making cities more livable and future-ready .

Read more: https://evoalab.substack.com/.../why-cities-need-to-grow...

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Grateful to have been invited as a speaker at the Specialization Seminar in Landscape Design: "Participatory Design and Social Cohesion," organized by the Faculty of Architecture of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo.

It was a rich exchange around some of the most pressing questions in contemporary urban practice, how landscape design can serve as a vehicle for community engagement, territorial identity, and social cohesion in our cities.

Thank you to Dr. Erika E. Pérez and Mtro. Luis Jacobo Villafuerte for the coordination and the invitation, and to the fellow speakers for such stimulating conversations. Events like this remind us why cross-institutional dialogue matters.

Looking forward to continuing these conversations.

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Honored to share that I’ve been selected as a juror for the Great Places Awards organized by the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA), in the Place Research category.

Grateful for the opportunity to contribute to recognizing research that strengthens the relationship between people and place.

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We are honored to share our work alongside Diana Garcia Cejudo, who has been selected for the upcoming exhibition, "Depletion: A Design Inquiry?" at TU Delft, organized by the Delta Urbanism Research Group. The exhibition, which runs from March 31 to April 11, engages with soil depletion not as a singular crisis but as a prolonged condition that shapes territories, infrastructures, and communities, as well as a lens for adaptive and regenerative design. The exhibition will run in parallel with the launch of Journal of Delta Urbanism #6 and a dedicated BK Talks session. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important international dialogue on regenerative futures from Mexico.

Call for Contributions — “Depletion, a design inquiry?” Exhibition at TU Delft - Urban Design

Call for Contributions — “Depletion, a design inquiry?” Exhibition at TU Delft

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Honorary Professor

I am deeply honored to share that Bangor University in Wales has appointed me as an Honorary Professor for the next three years.

This recognition fills me with gratitude and excitement — it represents not only an academic bridge between Mexico and the UK, but also a shared vision connecting architecture, psychology, biophilia, and wellbeing.

I look forward to collaborating with colleagues at the School of Psychology to explore how our environments can nurture healthier, more resilient, and inspiring ways of living.