Dr. Mariana Alegre Escorza

Biography

Mariana Alegre Escorza is a Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Design and the founder and executive director of Sistema Urbano, a Latin American urban innovation ecosystem that integrates data, participation, and collaborative action to transform cities and territories. Her work aims to improve the quality of life by advancing citizen-led urbanism to address urban inequity, spatial injustice, and climate challenges. Mariana bridges research, policy, and practice through participatory processes, civic engagement, and cross-sector collaboration, focusing on urban mobility, public transit, active modes, climate resilience, land use, and co-creation of public spaces. She has founded and led several award-winning platforms, including Lima Cómo Vamos, an independent urban observatory that has produced over 30 surveys and reports influencing public policy and community action, and Ocupa Tu Calle, which transformed 50 public spaces, shaped national and local policy, and trained mayors and public officials. Her initiatives have partnered with multilateral organizations to scale participatory approaches in Latin America. In academia, she teaches at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú's Master's program in Architecture and has advised graduate theses and authored publications on public space, citizen-led urbanism, mobility justice, and inequality. Her leadership has been recognized by the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard GSD and Forbes’s “Most Powerful Women” list.

Research Interests

Awards