Gowanus Commons Preparedness Strategies

Building Resilient Communities.

Gowanus Commons presents a strategy to increase disaster response and preparedness at a neighborhood scale developed with the Urban Planning Studio 2018 at Columbia University in partnership with the New York City Emergency Management Office (NYCEM).

The project tailored the existing community emergency planning toolkit developed by NYCEM for the Gowanus Community in Brooklyn, incorporating site-specific assessment for various hazards, stakeholder analysis to identify key actors, and community engagement tools. We designed and tested engagement tools with local actors producing a planning toolkit and a template for an App to enhance community preparedness.

• Date: Spring 2018
• Client: New York City Emergency Management Office
• See the full report to explore maps and outreach strategies here

Measuring social vulnerability in flooding events

Advanced GIS and mapping.

This project addresses the question of what social and spatial metrics are the best to identify the communities who are most vulnerable in a flooding event? The project focuses on Brooklyn, New York, as a case study area.

The project was selected to be presented at the Alliance for Sustainable Development workshop in Paris and the American Planning Association (APA) poster presentation at the Annual Conference in San Francisco 2019. This project was co authored with Anna Stokes and Sean Nelsen, and guided by Professor Leah Meisterlin.

• Advanced Spatial Analysis, GSAPP, Columbia University.
• Date: 2018
• See the full report here

Mapping Municipalities at Risk in Puerto Rico

Advanced GIS and mapping.

Project developed in the course “Conflict Urbanism: Puerto Rico Now” at GSAPP Columbia University to further understand the impacts that Hurricane Maria had in Puerto Rico and address the ways in which disasters consolidate spatial inequalities. In collaboration with Madeline Entrikin, Catlin Bone, and Tyrene Calvesbert and guided by professors Laura Kurgan and Frances Negron-Muntaner, we conducted a series of multi-criteria decision analysis looking the physical and social impacts of the hurricane identifying which municipalities appear to have been most impacted in order to visualize the need for specific action in recovery, preparedness and mitigation.

• Date: Fall 2019
• View online at Columbia’s Center for Spatial Research Website.

Eusebio Lillo Community Space

Urban Design and Participatory Design

The project consisted of upgrading the community space for the Eusebio Lillo Social Housing, which provides affordable housing for approximately 250 families. This project, under the umbrella of the national program called “Quiero mi Barrio” had two phases—first, the challenge to design a perimeter fencing solution to formalize the boundaries of the housing complex.

And second, the design of fourteen communal outdoor plazas. The community engagement and participatory design process permitted to withdraw illegal occupations at the floor plan level and recover the common outdoor space and shared parking lot areas for the community and incorporated tailored design options including playgrounds, gardens, barbecue areas, and others

• Date: 2016-2017
• Client: Municipalidad de Conchalí, Santiago, Chile
• See the full project at CLAMA Arquitectura

Green Terraces Community Project

Local Climate Adaptation

Green Terraces is a local climate adaptation program developed by NGO Sustentate, where I worked designing and facilitating workshops at schools, community meetings to raise awareness, physical interventions to create a collective design and construction experience, and publications to push for climate related policies.

The project was developed in collaboration with local authorities, private sponsors and organizations and communities, and it was selected by the Green Latin American Award among the 20th innovative projects in the category of Human Development, Social Inclusion & Reducing Inequality in 2016. http://premioslatinoamericaverde.com/

• Date: 2016-2017 ONG Susténtate and Konrad Adenauer Foundation
• Client: Municipalidad de Peñalolén and Villa El Estanque Community, Santiago, Chile
• See the full project report here

Valle de Azapa Community Center

Architecture and Participatory Design

As a lead architect, I developed a site plan for two acres including landscape design, soccer and basketball fields, parking areas, and playgrounds. The project included the design of a 3,000 square feet community center.

• Date: 2016-2017
• Client: MINVU and Municipality Renca, Santiago. Chile
• See the full project at CLAMA Arquitectura

Rethinking Urban Mobility and Public Space: A Visual Translation.

Visual Op-ed. AIA Oculus Magazine, New York

Visual Op-ed Coauthored with Alique Berberian, Tyrene Calvesbert, and Laura Postarini.

• Date: Summer 2020
• Published by: AIA Oculus Magazine, New York. 2020
• View online here

Resource-extraction, urban infrastructure, and resilient planning

Addressing the impact of the LNG industry in Soyo, Angola

Ms. Urban Planning Thesis at Columbia University, New York. 2019.

• GSAPP, Columbia University.
• Date: 2019
• Shared by request. Abstract online here

Dormant infrastructures and tourism decay, Shelly Beach Mombasa, Kenya.

Photo essay

• Published by: Urban Magazine GSAPP Columbia University. 2019
• View online at Urban Magazine

Kimeltuwe

Developing intercultural education strategies for Pehuenche communities in Chile.

Awarded Best Paper in International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD), Columbia University, New York.link

• Date:2018
• Shared by request.

Vivienda Resiliente y la Nueva Agenda Azul.

Local Climate Adaptation

Article for the publication called “Vivienda ¿Qué viene?: de pensar la unidad a construir la ciudad” coauthored with Michael Donovan.

• Published by: Inter-American Development Bank, 2018.
• See the full article here

Seguridad Climática: Reducción de Riesgos desde la Adaptación.

Climate Adaptation

• Published by: ONG Susténtate and Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Chile. 2017
• See the full publication here