Harvard University
2021 Doctor of Design (Phd equivalent)
Thesis: Spatial Opportunities for Self-Produced Environments
Universidad Metropolitana
2003 Master of Science in Urban Design (MAUD)
Summa Cum-Laude & Ranked best GPA in the College
Universidad Simón Bolívar
1998 Licensed Architecture (MArch)
Accreditation License No. CIV:118.809
About Ignacio A Cardona
CEO, Arepa Architecture Ecology and Participation | Doctor, Harvard University.
Creator of Restorative Community Design, which overlaps Spatial Opportunity Theory in architecture and urban design, Participatory Design, and Restorative Justice.
Ignacio is a Doctor of Design from Harvard University, with licensed degrees in Architecture and Urban Design from Venezuela. He has strong experience as a researcher in both professional practice and academic fields, working on housing and urban planning programs to improve spatial opportunities through restorative community design in Latin America. Due to his experience in the practical field and teaching courses on construction systems, Ignacio focuses on working on spatial justice from its conceptualization to its last details constructive.
Ignacio has been a Professor in Architecture and Urban Design for more than eighteen years with experience in universities like Harvard Graduate School of Design and Wentworth Institute of Technology. He was a full-time tenured professor in Universidad Simón Bolívar for twelve years. Due to his outstanding work, the Architecture Degree Program at Universidad Simón Bolívar currently bears the name Profesor Ignacio for the best professor awarded by the students. Ignacio has developed that experience beyond the traditional academy, with participatory design activities for disadvantaged communities in places like Caracas, Lima, Mendoza, Mexico, Mumbai, Queens (NYC), and Kibera.
In the research realm, Ignacio has led projects as an external consultant in international agencies such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and Facebook Technologies. Additionally, Ignacio has led an Architecture Firm called AREPA Architecture Ecology and Participation for more than fifteen years designing and building architectural and urban projects.
Ignacio has lectured, conducted seminars, and written articles for peer-reviewed magazines in places such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Boston, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Mexico City, Hannover, Mumbai, Nairobi, New York, Puebla, and Santiago. His ideas and projects on restorative design have been reviewed in more than 50 publications internationally; he has won numerous awards, Grants, and Scholarships in Architecture and Urban Design.
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Courses
Technology, Participation, and Social Inclusion
Description The rise of information, communication technologies, and the metaverse have inevitably promoted a change in management processes. This course proposes to discuss these technological processes and tools from the perspective of Spatial Democracy. Learning Outcomes – Discuss the sociopolitical implications between fakeness and reality in the realm of planning and design. – Explore the […]
Restorative Community Design: Basic Notions
Description This course discusses community factors that hinder inclusion in planning and design. Subsequently, the course proposes a Restorative Community Design that explores tools to merge human rights with management actions. Learning Outcomes – Analyze the concepts of Restorative Justice and their implication in Planning and Design. – Explore basic notions on Spatial Opportunities, Innovation, […]
Participatory and Planning Design Tools
Description This is a hands-on course on Participatory Design tools. Based on a matrix for the participatory management of urban management, this course specifies a series of traditional and creative tools to promote efficiency and democracy in management processes. Learning Outcomes – Sintetize the basic conditions and political guidelines to promote participation. – Explore tools […]
Spatial Democracy and Participation
Description In this course, we explore citizen participation beyond its instrumentation. Participation is a strategy for citizen awareness and shared problematization of social and spatial phenomena at multiple levels of governance. Learning Outcomes – Understand citizen participation as a strategy to promote spatial democracy. – Define the basic conditions and political guidelines to promote participation. […]
Podcast
Spatial Opportunities for Self-Produced Environments
Defense of my Doctoral Dissertation at Harvard Graduate School of Design in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Design. Advisors: Anita Berrizbeitia, Chair of Landscape Architecture; Diane Davis, Professor of Regional Planning; and Rahul Mehrotra, Chair of Urban Planning.
Tear Down The Walls: Imagining A Sustainable City Model
Vídeo Podcast based on the proposal for the “La Carlota Competition” (Caracas, 2012) Led by AREPA: ARCHITECTURE ECOLOGY AND PARTICIPATION in collaboration with AGUA CONSULTING GROUP, ARBÓREA, INTECH SOLUTION, PROVITA & TALLERES TFA.