Online Debates

Gonzalo’s work focuses on understanding project processes, risks, low-cost housing, and informality in urban settings. He is interested in the causes and consequences of rapid urban transformation triggered by natural disasters, climate change, socio-political conflicts, and economic instability. His research has impacted housing and urban policy in Haiti, Cuba, Chile, Colombia and other countries of the Global South. In 2013, Gonzalo launched a series of graduate courses, studios and online debates focused on the study of ethics in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and other design professions. Since 2017, he is the holder of the Université de Montréal Fayolle-Magil Construction Research Chair in Architecture, the Built Environment and Sustainability. He is also the director of the IF Research Group (grif) and the Canadian Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Reconstruction Research Alliance (Oeuvre durable). He is one of the founders of i-Rec, an international network of specialists in disaster risk reduction and post-disaster reconstruction. He has led, or participated in, research projects with an overall budget of over five million Canadian dollars. In 2016, his latest book, The Invisible Houses, received the Housing Design Education Award (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architects). That year, Gonzalo was accepted as a Member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada, the country’s most important recognition of emerging intellectual leadership.