Francisca
Astaburuaga

Architect (UC) – MSc City Design (LSE).

She is the Director of the Center for Innovation in Cities at the School of Architecture of Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile). She is an independent Architect and Urban Designer with 25 years of professional experience in project design, studies, and management tools for urban and territorial projects. She serves as a Director at the Council of Infrastructure Policies (CPI) in Chile, where she leads the "Infrastructure and City" working group, and is also a Director at Community Housing Limited (CHL). Additionally, she is a collaborating architect at Cecilia Puga and Paula Velasco Arquitectas, where she has developed the urban design for several award-winning public building proposals.

She has extensive experience leading multidisciplinary and multinational professional teams. As a Senior Consultant based in Chile, she has collaborated with ARUP on sustainable infrastructure projects and the development of Resilience Strategies for four Latin American capitals. Over the last 17 years, her work has focused on directing urban design studies and public policy projects that require a deep understanding of local realities, research into contextual opportunities, and the design of implementation strategies for innovative and sustainable programs.

As Director of the Center for Innovation in Cities, she has led various applied research projects, including public innovation initiatives for urban sustainability, collaborative urban governance models, prospective urban studies, multidisciplinary innovation to address climate change in rural areas, and the study of infrastructure for territorial development across multiple scales.