#spatialdeterminantsofhealth

I'm honored to be part of the 2026 cohort of the Academy for Public Scholarship on the Built Environment: Spatial Determinants of Health, convened by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) in partnership with The OpEd Project.

Over the coming months, twelve of us will work to bring research on health and the built environment into wider public conversation—learning to write for readers beyond the academy, and to make the case for why the design of our cities shapes how people actually live.

The Academy and The OpEd Project exist to widen who gets to shape that conversation—to bring more voices and more kinds of expertise into the room. This cohort spans diverse geographies and questions, and I'm glad to bring a perspective from Mexico and the Global South to it: how landscape, water, and green space shape well-being in Latin American cities. I expect to learn as much from my eleven colleagues as I contribute.

For me, the throughline is simple: the built environment is, in effect, public-health infrastructure. Landscape is not decoration laid over the city—it shapes how we feel, how we live, and who gets to be well.

Gratitude to ACSA, to The OpEd Project, and to the colleagues and collaborators who have shaped this work along the way. More soon.

https://www.acsa-arch.org/.../spatial-determinants-of.../