Azul Castaneda is an urban designer and researcher with over 8 years of experience as a consultant, teaching, managing, designing projects, and conducting research in the development of cities and citizen engagement. She holds an MSc from UCL in Urban Design for Development and an MSc from LSE in Inequality and Social Science. Azul has experience working with participatory design and research, mapping, housing policies, community engagement, and socio-spatial inequalities. She has lectured at several universities and has worked on projects for different local authorities in England, Mexico, and Ecuador. Her professional goal is to be part of a project that contributes to achieving more just and inclusive cities.
Her OOC AHRC DTP studentship is a Collaborative Doctoral Award working in partnership with Future of London, aimed at understanding the value of community engagement in the built environment.