Presentations

Javier Aguilar is an architect specializing in transport architecture projects, urban planning, and public space design at Sener.  He has over 15 years’ experience leading and coordinating multi-disciplinary teams for the development of urban and mobility projects.  In his work, he promotes the implementation of new technologies and the criteria of sustainability, accessibility, and citizen participation, contributing to the development of more efficient and inclusive cities.

Carlos Mateo Arroyo is an architect and project director with more than 20 years’ international experience in transport architecture, urban planning, and large rail infrastructure.  He has led multi-disciplinary teams on high-impact projects, such as the Master Plan for the Central District (Honduras 2055), the Scarborough Subway Extension (Toronto), the Cairo Monorail, the SGR Lines in Tanzania, and several stations in the subway systems of Doha and Chile.  His career combines station and transit hubs design, interface management, BIM management, constructability, and safety by design, integrating the criteria of accessibility, operating efficiency, and architectural quality in complex urban environments.  He brings with him his experience as an advisor in technical-commercial, hiring, risk analysis, strategic planning, and TOD models matters, oriented to increasing demand, optimizing flows, and articulating viable and scalable urban development.  With a multi-disciplinary view of mobility, city, and infrastructure, he promotes solutions that combine urban integration, resilience, user experience, and focus on results, supported by advanced digital tools and a solid multi-national experience.

Joaquim Arcas-Abella has a PhD in Architecture and a Master’s Degree in Architecture, Energy and the Environment from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). Founding partner and CEO of the Cíclica [space · community · ecology] cooperative.
He coordinates projects in the field of building and urban planning, with special emphasis on retrofitting and turning the city into a sustainable model.
The top projects in which Cíclica has been involved include: the ‘Long-Term Strategy for Energy Retrofitting in the Building Sector in Spain (ERESEE)’ (Ministry of Development, 2014-2020), the ‘Spanish Building Refurbishment National Plan (PNRE)’ (Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, 2025-2026), the ‘Long-Term Intervention Strategy for the Building Stock of the Basque Country’ (Basque Government, 2018-2023) and the ‘Identifying the Energy Retrofitting News of the Housing Stock of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area’  (Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Consortium, 2017-2018).

Albert Cuchí is professor of Architecture Technology at the Vallès School of Architecture at the UPC.

His lecturing and his research have focused on the relationships between Sustainability and Architecture at all levels. He founded the Official Master’s Degree of Sustainable Intervention in the Built Environment (MISMeC) at the UPC, and has also collaborated on other master’s degree in Spain and abroad.

He has supervised over 20 PhD dissertations on subjects in this field, both at the UPC and at other universities, and has contributed to numerous publications. He chaired Sustainable Building Conference SB14 (organised GBCEspaña and IISBE), which was held in Barcelona in the autumn of 2014

He has been an advisor to the ministries of Housing, Development and the Environment on Spanish building strategies regarding climate change; he has also worked on those areas with the Catalan and Basque governments.

Ángel M. Cea Suberviola qualified as an architect at the Donostia-San Sebastián School of Architecture (University of the Basque Country – EHU), and embarked on his professional career in 2001.

In 2004, he co-founded the MaaB Arquitectura y Urbanismo studio – with offices in Bilbao and Durango – together with Jorge Mallagaray and Belén Rodríguez.

Ángel has focused his career on sustainable building, energy retrofitting and urban renewal, based on the premise that the future does not lie in greater urban sprawl, but rather in intervening in and enhancing the existing city.

In keeping with this approach, his studio is known for applying a rigorous ecodesign system endorsed by ISO certifications (14006 and 14001). In addition to his project work, Ángel has a proven track record in research; he has taken part in ecodesign studies led by IHOBE and the Basque Country, and is continually exploring the links between culture, architecture and neighbourhood participation in urban design.

Lorena Torres Modrego (Santurtzi, 1972) graduated in Architecture, majoring in Urban Planning, from the Madrid School of Architecture (ETSAM) and has a post-graduate diploma in Landscaping from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) (Polytechnic University of Catalonia – UPC).

After starting out in Madrid where she worked on building projects at the Lamela Studio, she decided to refocus her career in 2018 and work exclusively in landscaping; that was when she co-founded LASuMA paisajistak.

In 2019, she took a further step in her profession as a founding partner of SOiL Arquitectura del Paisaje, based in Getxo. From there, she manages and coordinates projects that address all territorial scales, focusing on spatial planning, the public space and urban rewilding by means of nature-based solutions (NBSs) and sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS).

Apart from her work on projects, Lorena continues to be greatly involved in training and dissemination. She coordinates and lectures on the Master’s Degree in Sustainable Urban Landscaping at IED Kunsthal Bilbao, and regularly take part in forums of the sector, such as the summer courses on landscaping at the University of the Basque Country (EHU).

At Cierto Estudio, we make architecture from daily life.  We work in collective housing, public spaces, and interior design, exploring new ways to live in and share spaces.  We believe in architecture that belongs to people: more than designing spaces, we’re thinking about what happens within them.

Each project seeks to generate emotion, comfort, and identity, proposing innovative ways to integrate life into the space, from the domestic scale to the urban.  We understand architecture to be an open process, based on collaboration, dialogue, and experimentation.  Moreover, we’ve shared our experience as teachers in the past at TUGraz, LaSalle, UdG, Tec Monterrey, and UIC.

Among our projects, several stand out: Illa Glòries, one of the four projects, nominated for the 2026 Mies van der Rhoe Award and Housing of the Year Dezeen Award; the Kitch-room apartment building, and the Consell de Cent Green Axis as part of the Superilla Barcelona project, awarded the 2025 European New Bahaus Award and the AJAC.

Arantza Gracia Ceballos graduated in Biology from the University of the Basque Country (EHU) and has a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management and Technology (EHU); she is an environmental strategy technician at Bilbao City Council.

Rubén Santos has a PhD in Geology, where he specialised in flood risk assessment and management. His whole career has focused on using cartography to assess flood hazards and on planning measures to prevent and reduce flood risk; first, in the river basins on the Cantabrian side of the watershed and, subsequently, within the Basque Autonomous Community.

Loli Lorenzo graduated in Biology from the University of the Basque Country; she has worked for over 30 years on project, plan and programme development and on regulatory support in the areas of contaminated land and soil protection; her focus has recently shifted to green public procurement as a project manager at Ihobe, S.A., the Basque Government’s environmental management agency. She has also run training courses for public sector professionals in the aforementioned work areas

Matxalen Acasuso is an architect with a degree from the University of Navarre and a master’s in Marketing Management, with her own studio in Bilbao.  Her work is aimed at strategic consulting on habitat and longevity, and she is a member and coordinator of projects in the mYmO, and a consultant specialized in inter-generational innovation aimed at action.  She is a member of the board at the ASA: Architecture and Sustainability Association, and founder of the Reversas Association, which is a collective that defends prioritizing the leading role of the territorial perspective as a response to the challenges current society faces.  She was the Dean of the Official College of Architects of the Basque Country and Navarre (COAVN) (2014-2020) and treasurer of the High Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain (2018-2020).  She was the lead editor of the Spanish edition of the international architecture journal Detail (2002-2013).  She was a committee member for exhibits, conferences, juries, and talks, and author of several articles.  She is the co-author of the Habitatu innovation project and publication, crossing the limits of the regulation.

Arantxa Quintana studied Architecture Donostia-San Sebastián School of Architecture (University of the Basque Country-EHU, 1998) and at the Institute d’Architecture, Geneva University (Switzerland). PhD in Architecture from the EHU (2016); her doctoral thesis was on: ‘From the Deusto River Bank to Zorrotzaurre. A Century of Urban Planning on the Deusto Floodplain’.

Since the year 2000, has been the founding partner of the HIKA Arkitektura y Urbanismo, where she manages, coordinates and heads planning and building works for the private and public sector; she has won different architecture contests.

Her international experience includes her time at Galfetti & Spitsas Arquitectos, (Switzerland) and at Ramírez Vázquez Arquitectos (Mexico City), where she led and managed multidisciplinary teams as the Project Office Director.

In academia, she lectures at the Donostia-San Sebastián School of Architecture (EHU) in the Architectural Projects subjects in Years 1, 2 and 2, in the Architecture and Urban Planning Workshop I and Architecture and Construction Workshop II:

In tandem, she has contributed to different publications and teaching materials, and was the General Secretary and member of the Scientific Committee of the BIA Urban Regeneration Forum 2016- 2020.

She was the Elected Member for Culture, Heritage and member of the Governing Board of the Bizkaia Delegation of the Basque-Navarre Institute of Architects from 2016 to 2021.

Councilor of Urban Planning, Strategic Projects and Public Space. Bilbao City Council. Asier Abaunza Robles (Bilbao, 1978) holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Public University of Navarre. He is currently Delegate Councillor for Urban Planning, Strategic Projects and Public Space. He has been a member of Bilbao City Council since 2007. During this period he has been responsible for Mobility, Urban Planning, Civil Works, Services and Public Space. He has also been a member of several Boards of Directors and has chaired Districts 1 (Deusto) and 3 (Otxarkoaga-Txurdinaga), as well as several municipal companies (Artxanda Funicular, Surbisa and Bioartigas). Previously, he worked at Lantik, at the Derio Agricultural School, in several private companies and as an advisor to the General Secretariat for External Action of the Basque Government

Marcos Ros Sempere has been a Member of the European Parliament in the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) since February 2020. He has been a member of the committees on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), Industry, Research & Energy (ITRE), Culture & Education (CULT) and Regional Development (REGI), where he has been the spokesperson of the S&D Group since 2022. He is on the CULT committee and is the co-rapporteur of the initiative report on the new European Bauhaus, an initiative that brings together interdisciplinary solutions in urban planning with measures such as the decarbonisation of buildings to integrate the green transition into the life of EU citizens.

At the beginning of the 10th Parliamentary term, he was re-elected S&D Coordinator of the Committee on Regional Development at the European Parliament.

Prior to his role in the European Parliament, Mr. Ros Sempere spent eleven years lecturing in Urban Planning at the Cartagena School of Architecture. He has a PhD in architecture, specialises in urban planning and has a long track record in restoring architectural heritage.

Ana Beatriz Jordao is Head of UN-Habitat Country Office in Spain. She has an extensive track record in infrastructure programmes, as well as in designing and rolling out projects with comprehensive approaches of urban resilience and improving vulnerable communities.

She previously worked at the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), where she was an urban specialist in the Financial Cooperation and in the Multilateral Cooperation departments. She had previously been at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and at the Ministry of the Economy and the Treasury.

Earlier in her career, she was involved in developing urban planning instruments in Spain and in refurbishment projects of the historical centre of Porto.

Ana Beatriz qualified as an architect and urban planner at the Federal University of Río de Janeiro and the University of Seville, and has a Master’s Degree in Architectural Restoration from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

PhD in Architecture from the Coruña School of Architecture (Galicia). Teresa’s PhD thesis was entitled ‘Colour in Architecture’ and was supervised by the architect César Portela Fernández Jardón. It was dedicated to the Mexican architect Luis Barragán in recognition of her friendship with him during her years studying architecture in Mexico City. Her thesis was awarded the highest score – Cum Laude – by the tribunal chaired by the architect Félix Candela.

In 2003, Teresa was elected as Dean-President of the Professional Association of Architects of Galicia and was the first woman to hold the post.  She was Vice-President of the Galician Technology Institute.

She was a full board member of the CSCAE (Higher Council of Professional Associations of Architects of Spain). She headed the housing task force and sat on the Urban Issues and Environment & Sustainable Architecture committees of the Architects’ Council of Europe.

Teresa was the Minister for Housing and Land of the Galician Government in the VII Parliamentary Term. She chaired the Housing Committee of the Architects’ Council of Europe.

A Member of the Galician Parliament in the VII Parliamentary Term 2009-2012.

She has sat on many architecture juries, including the one for the Spanish National Architecture Award in 2003. She also chaired the jury for the National Biennial of Mexican Architecture 2022. She has been a speaker at different institutions and universities on numerous occasions.

In July 2021, she was elected as board member of the UIA (International Union of Architects).

Teresa is currently Vice-President of the UIA, a post to which she was appointed at the General Assembly held in Copenhagen in 2023.

Isabel Tomé is an urban architect, focusing on urban and land planning, with special focus on urban regeneration, the transformation of public spaces, and the integration of cohesion, sustainability, and social innovation criteria.

She studied at UPC and TUDelft.  She is currently the Director of the Urban Planning Area of the Barcelona Metropolitan Master Plan, where she combines technical practice with academic reflection, giving talks at international universities, congresses, and seminars (URBACT, ICLEI, EFUF, UPC, among others).  In these presentations, she takes on topics such as urban planning innovation, metropolitan mobility, and territorial resilience.

Her work has been published in specialist journals and publishers (Quaderns AMB, ISUF-H, LISTLAB, Edicions ETSAB) and recognized with national and international awards, including the URBACT Good Practice Award (2025) and the Accésit del Premio Cataluña de Territorio (Catalunya Prize Territory Award) (2020) for the “Integral Action Plan: Imagine Badia” project.

Ignacio de la Puerta Rueda, graduated in Architecture from the Madrid  School of Architecture (ETSAM,1983), has a diploma in Urban Planning Law (1994), specialised in Urban Planning (2009), and trained as Commercial and Civil Mediator (2013). He has extensive experience in strategic planning, urban planning and quality processes; CSCAE awarded him the National Urban Planning Prize in 2021.

 Ignacio is currently a member of the COAVN Governing Board and of the Management Board of the Basque-Navarre Association of Urban Planning Architects (AVNAU); he is also an Expert Senior Advisor for the European Commission to assess Life projects.

He has worked as a freelance architect since 1994, as an expert consultant and advisor, as well as on building projects or planning instruments. In the public administration, Ignacio has held positions of responsibility in the regional government, including Director of Spatial Planning and Urban Renewal (January 2017 – September 2020), Director of Spatial Planning and Urban Agenda (September 2020 – July 2024), and the Basque Government’s Housing Director (May 2009 – January 2013); and at local level, as the Municipal Architect and Director of the Urban Planning Department and of the General Plan Office at Eibar Local Council (October 1994 – December 2007).

Miguel Ángel Páez Escamendi is the current Deputy Minister for Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility of the Basque Government; he had previously held the post of Deputy Minister for Spatial Planning and Urban Agenda. After graduating in Law, he held different posts in Irun City Council, where he was the First Deputy Mayor, and councillor with portfolios for Youth and Sport, Public Works and Housing, the Treasury, Economic Development, and Urban Planning. He also headed the Bidasoa Activa development agency and chaired the management committee of the Bidasoa-Txingudi Cross-Border Consortium.

Miguel Ángel Castilla Saiz is the Demand Management Head of Section at the Territorial Development and Infrastructures Department of Bizkaia Provincial Government. Career civil servant since 1990.

He started out in the field of sanitary engineering in the Department of the Environment, working on regional sanitation projects and works and on different WWTPs.

In 1996, he moved to the Planning Services at the Department of Public Works, and worked on the Implementation of the Telematics System in Bizkaia, on the Traffic Lights and Measuring Network.

Since 1999, he has been the Demand Management Head of Section. He works in the field of spatial management and urban planning. He is the technical manager of the Bizkaia Sectoral Territorial Plan of Cycleways 2023-2035. He is the director of several cycleways projects: Cycle tracks of the Ibaizabal, of the Txorierri, of the River Nervión, of the River Estuary Promenade…

He is also a member of the Spatial Management of the Basque Country Committee (C.O.T.P.V.).

Pia Fontana and Miguel Mayorga are the co-founders of mayorga-fontana arquitectura and of the City View LAB in Barcelona. They both lecture and research at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) (ReARQ and LUB groups). They have worked in Spain, Italy, Colombia, Brazil and Honduras; they have produced urban planning and architecture studies and projects, with an emphasis on cross-scale and interdisciplinary work, based on sustainability, ecology and the use of the new technologies. They have worked on green infrastructure projects and for sustainable urban mobility: public spaces, parks, streets and school setting projects; refurbishing clustered and single family housing, with emphasis on the role of architecture in the urban renewal processes; special mention should be made of their work on in-between spaces. They have published books and popular and scholarly articles; they have curated different exhibitions in Italy, Spain and Colombia, and been guest speakers at congresses and seminars. M. Pia Fontana graduated in architecture from the Facoltá di Architettura de la Universitá degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, and further studies at the Naples School and the TU Technische Universität Graz. She has a PhD in Architectural Studies (UPC).

Pia Fontana and Miguel Mayorga are the co-founders of mayorga-fontana arquitectura and of the City View LAB in Barcelona. They both lecture and research at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) (ReARQ and LUB groups). They have worked in Spain, Italy, Colombia, Brazil and Honduras; they have produced urban planning and architecture studies and projects, with an emphasis on cross-scale and interdisciplinary work, based on sustainability, ecology and the use of the new technologies. They have worked on green infrastructure projects and for sustainable urban mobility: public spaces, parks, streets and school setting projects; refurbishing clustered and single family housing, with emphasis on the role of architecture in the urban renewal processes; special mention should be made of their work on in-between spaces. They have published books and popular and scholarly articles; they have curated different exhibitions in Italy, Spain and Colombia, and been guest speakers at congresses and seminars. M. Mayorga qualified as an architect at the National University of Colombia (with a degree in Biology from the National Pedagogical University of Colombia); he has a Master’s Degree in Urban Design and a PhD in Territory Management (UPC)

Antonio López Palenzuela is currently the general manager of Euskal Trenbide Sarea (ETS), a public entity subject to private law reporting to the Basque Government’s Ministry of Sustainable Mobility, tasked with building and maintaining the railway and tram infrastructures that are the responsibility of the autonomous government. López is a Civil Engineer and started out in the private sector; since 2007, he has held different posts at ETS, as works director, and deputy director and director of the entity’s Construction Area.