2020-2021 Award Winner Webinar

Carlos E. Ferrufino is an architect (UCA, 1995) with a master in urban and regional planning (Virginia Tech, 2000) and a PhD in Social Sciences (UCA, 2020). Carlos has more than 20 years of experience in planning in El Salvador and Central America. He has coordinated several urban development plans, planning policies, master plans, and urban designs for clients in the public and private sectors, including San Marcos Territorial Development Plan and the Placemaking Strategy for Downtown San Salvador, both awarded by the APA International Division in social equity and urban design. Carlos teaches at Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador in the fields of planning, housing, and urban design and is Vice President of CIVITAS.

Alberto Harth Deneke founded CIVITAS, a planning and architecture firm, in 2001. He holds a B.Arch. from USC, an MCP, and Ph.D. in Urban Studies from MIT. The firm’s portfolio includes regional and urban development plans, landscape and urban design, policy papers, and ordinances. At the World Bank (1980-98) he covered housing, urban development, transport, water supply, and sanitation sectors. His last position was Infrastructure Division Chief, West Africa Region. In the 1970s he was General Manager of the Salvadoran Housing Foundation and in the 1960s consultant for the San Salvador Metropolitan Area development plan.

I'm 34 years old and graduated in Environmental and Urban Engineering from the Federal University of ABC, working at Polo de Planejamento since 2015, I'm currently a partner in the consultancy along with two other partners, Thiago and Tatiana. I work mainly in urban and regional planning projects, among the main projects are urban mobility plans (7 elaborated plans), master plans (2 elaborated plans) and elaboration of the collective public transport system (2 elaborated systems). The project for the free transport system in the city of Vargem Grande Paulista was the first of its kind developed by Polo Planejamento.

Chanam Lee is a Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and founding director of Design Research for Active Living, at Texas A&M University. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on linking the built environment with public health outcomes. Dr. Lee has led 27 externally funded projects totaling $15 million, and is among the most cited scholars in her field with 100+ peer-reviewed publications and ~300 presentations. Her work has been recognized by awards from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, American Public Health Association, American Society of Landscape Architects, etc. Her work has also impacted professional practices by providing evidence-based guides for design projects in the US, Japan, and Nigeria, which range from hospital healing gardens to community development projects.

Filippo Imberti is an architect focusing on data-driven design and sustainable urban development. During his career he coordinated large-scale urban design proposals and elaborated strategies and guidelines for multistakeholder programmes; he managed partnerships with international organizations and co-edited publications, concept notes and capacity-building activities. He collaborated with UN-Habitat, supporting the program for achieving sustainable urban development in the Philippines and Mozambique, and preparing methodologies of planning workshops for professionals and city leaders in rapid urbanization contexts (RPS – Rapid Planning studio), Filippo leads the technology and innovation department of TSPA, with a focus on digital urban design and GIS applications, and co-founded the platform City Scan, investigating urban development patterns through the lens of geospatial data.