Maria Carrizosa

Miyamoto International, Planning, Design and Climate Resiliency, Senior Urban Planner, BUILDING LOCAL (aesthetic and tectonic study of local building practices), Co-Founder

Maria Carrizosa is a senior urban planner and architect at Miyamoto, a global, multi-hazard engineering, urban design, and disaster risk management firm dedicated to building resilience to sustain economies, safeguard communities, and save lives. She has a degree in architecture from Universidad de Los Andes and a dual Master’s degree in Architecture and City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley. She teaches Climate Change and Urban Design at Universidad Externado de Colombia. She specializes in collaborative practices between architecture and urban planning, and emphasizes passive design, closed-loop practices, resilient development, nature-based solutions, proximity plans (such as the 15-minute city concept), and transport-oriented development. Her projects include plans for Bogotá’s southeast, urban rehabilitation initiatives, and urban resiliency in cities like Kinshasa, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and Lima. She looks to vernacular construction and the use of local materials such as earth and bamboo. BUILDING LOCAL organizes international design-build workshops that explore sustainable materials and construction techniques.