EDRA54 Keynote & Plenaries

EDRA54 Keynotes and Plenaries

EDRA54 Mexico City will include feature keynote or plenary sessions from world renowned speakers.

EDRA54 Wednesday Keynote

GARY EVANS PhD
50 years of teaching environmental psychology
June, 21st, 9:30 to 10:30 am

Dr. Gary Evans is the Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professor at Cornell University. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Psychology from the University of MA, Amherst, and a Post Doctoral in Psychoneuroendocrinology from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. He has received an Honorary Doctorate from Stockholm University in Sweden. Dr. Evans is a former member of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health and the Board of Children, Youth, and Families for the National Academy of Sciences. He received the EDRA Career Award and a Senior National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Author of over 350 scholarly articles and book chapters plus five books. Current research focuses on children's environments, childhood poverty, cumulative risk and children, environmental stressors, and the development of children's environmental attitudes and behaviors. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Mac Arthur Foundation, the W. T. Grant Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

EDRA54 Thursday Keynote

JOSÉ SARUKHÁN KERMEZ PhD
Responses to the Socio-environmental Crisis: Based only on technology without socio-environmental ethics?
June, 22nd, 9:00 to 10:00 am

Dr. Sarukhán is recognized internationally for his knowledge and contributions to biodiversity, ecosystem conservation, and global climate change. He is a Researcher Emeritus at the Institute of Ecology of UNAM. He has received honorary doctorates from 12 national and foreign universities and several distinctions, including the Gold Medal for Civic Merit "Eduardo Neri" House of Representatives, the Merit Medal of the UNAM Foundation, the "NatureServe Conservation" Award, the United Nations Program (UNEP) "Champions of the Earth" Award, and the Tyler Award for Environmental Achievement, the highest award given in environmental matters. In 2018, the Rockefeller Foundation selected him for the "Bellagio Center Residency Program. In 2021, he received the "José Vasconcelos" Medal from the Seminar of Mexican Culture.

Dr. Sarukhán published more than 190 scientific papers and several books, including the first, second, and third editions of "Tropical Trees of Mexico," eight editions of "Darwin's Muses and Manual of Weeds of the Valley of Mexico", and coordinated "Natural Capital of Mexico" with 750 authors and reviewers. He recently published: “Patrimonio Natural de México: 100 casos de éxito” (with J. Carabias and others, 2010), and “El Cambio Climático: causas, efectos y soluciones” (with J. Carabias and M. Molina, 2010). With J. R. Cossío, J. Carabias, and A. Bolivar he authored the publication "Defensa legal contra delitos ambientales". He is a member of several academic organizations: El Colegio Nacional since 1987, the Third World Academy of Sciences, the California Academy of Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences (USA), the Royal Society of London and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

EDRA54 Friday Keynote

DEBAJYOTI PATI PhD
Positioning Environmental Design Value Propositions in Contemporary Health
June, 23rd, 9:00 to 10:00 am

Dr. Debajyoti Pati has over 34 years of experience in research, practice, and teaching in the United States, Canada, and India. He earned his doctoral degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has published widely on performance based design in the healthcare and criminal justice sectors, in the form of book/book chapters, scientific articles, and industry publications. He served as the vice president and director of research of HKS Architects, a leading international healthcare design firm, before moving to Texas Tech in 2011.

EDRA54 Plenary

CHALLENGES AND ACTIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: HOUSING, PUBLIC SPACES, AND DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES
June, 22nd, 10:30 to 12:15 am

Recent research shows that health and global environmental change, mainly climate change, are closely related. In this session, the speakers will discuss the challenges that have been emerging in the dynamics of cities due to an original construction based only on people, and how the current design can reconnect human beings with the natural environment to mitigate and address environmental problems, based on new forms of behavior and sensory experiences that will be a legacy for future generations.

MARIO SCHJETNAN, MLA-UD. Founder and Director | Grupo de Diseño Urbano/GDU, Mexico

Presenter's bio
Mario Schjetnan graduated from the School of Architecture UNAM and later received a Master's in Landscape Architecture & Urban Design from the University of California, Berkeley. Some of his most important projects are Xochimilco Ecological Park, National Medical Center Siglo XXI, Union Point Park in Oakland, California, the rehabilitation of the Chapultepec Forest, the Archeological Museum of the northern cultures in Paquimé, and the Bicentenary Park. Some honors he has received are the Maria Ignacia Rodríguez de Velasco Award, named after a Mexican Academy of Arts member, and the Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award.

RYUZO OHNO Ph.D. Professor Emeritus | Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

Presenter's bio
Dr. Ohno holds a master's degree in Engineering in Architecture from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and a Master's in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin. He also received a Ph.D. in Engineering in Architecture from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He has been the recipient of prizes (Research and Book) of AIJ from the Architectural Institute of Japan, the MERA Service Award. His projects include House in Daimachi, Nagoya; House in Kamimura, Nagoya; Music Hall in Ohoizumi-Kogen, Yamanashi; and House in Seijo, Tokyo, among others.

SARA TOPELSON-FRYDMAN Architect and Emeritus Professor | National Academy of Architecture, Mexico

Presenter's bio
Sara Topelson graduated from the Faculty of Architecture, UNAM. She was a professor at the International Academy of Architecture. She is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects. In addition, she is an Emeritus Professor at the National Academy of Architecture and the Mexican Academy of Architecture. She was the first women President of the Union Internationale des Architectes, and she is a President of the Urban Land Institute Mexico. Among her honors are the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the Ministry of Culture, France, and the Medal Bene Merentibus of the Association of Polish Architects. She was Director of the Architecture and Conservation of the Artistic Heritage firm INBA.

BRIAN JENCEK, RLA Global Director of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture+Senior Principal | HOK, San Francisco - US

Presenter's bio
Brian is the director of HOK’s global planning and landscape architecture practice and a member of the firm’s board of directors and global design board. Based in San Francisco, Brian leads city planners, urban designers, landscape architects and environmental designers across HOK’s global network of studios. The profound connections between people and place drive his design approach for projects ranging from large-scale city design to award-winning campuses and parklands. Brian serves the broader community as a board member for the Landscape Architecture Foundation and the American Society of Landscape Architects. He is a frequent speaker at Urban Land Institute, American Planning Association and Society for College and Urban Planning events. Brian also teaches graduate-level design studios on climate-responsive design and urban resiliency at the University of California, Berkeley.

EDRA54 Plenary

PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH & WELL-BEING: CHALLENGES AND ACTIONS FOR LIVABLE ENVIRONMENTS
June, 21st, 11:00 to 12:30 am

The current vision of the built environment has advanced to favor the full development of people. In this session, experts will describe the challenges to ensure that different places promote the physical and psychological health of all users and that places possess the conditions to be environments that promote self-care and well-being.

MARÍA ELENA MEDINA-MORA Ph.D. Emeritus Researcher, National Institutes of Health in Mexico, National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT)

Presenter's bio
Ph.D. in Social Psychology (UNAM), Emeritus Researcher of the National Institutes of Health and National System of Researchers of Mexico / National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). She received an honorary doctorate from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (2009) the University of San Nicolás in Hidalgo (2018) and UNAM (2019). She has 445 published articles, 230 chapters of books, and 30 books published and more than 34,115 citations in the Scopus index from all her work on Mental Health, Drugs and Sustainable Development.

VICTOR CORRAL VERDUGO Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Department of Social Science, University of Sonora, Mexico

Presenter's bio
Dr. Verdugo is a professor of psychology in the Social Science Department at the University of Sonora. He received a Ph.D. in Environmental Psychology from the University of Arizona in 1995 and founded the Ph.D. programs in Psychology and Social Science at the University of Sonora. International associate editor of Environment & Behavior, Frontiers in Psychology, and Psyecology. Among his numerous publications, he has been one of the authors of the Handbook of Environmental Psychology (2002, Wiley) and the Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology (2012, Oxford University Press).

DENI RUGGERI Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Maryland, US - EDRA Executive Director

Presenter's bio
Dr. Deni Ruggeri is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on landscape democracy, participation and co-creation, place identity, attachment, social cohesion, and urban agriculture as an engine for transformations at the scale of the individual, communities, and their larger ecosystems. He has been a lecturer at the Universities of California (Berkeley and Davis), and an assistant professor at Cornell University. He has earned tenure at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the University of Oregon. He is the author of 25 journal articles, book chapters and co-edited: "Defining Landscape Democracy. A Path to Spatial Justice" and a volume on Urban Agriculture and the Compact City (in progress). He is also a partner in the EU-funded Landscape Education for Democracy project.