Laura Guimarães is a Brazilian architect and urban planner, with a Master’s degree in City & Technology from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. She is currently the manager of the Urban Sciences Lab of IAAC, a research and consultancy laboratory created in 2015, dedicated to producing theoretical and applied knowledge to help understand and solve the urban issues of our contemporary society. In this role, she is responsible for coordinating research and educational initiatives on urban design and planning, along with business partnerships and consultancy on urban projects around the world.

Prior to moving to Barcelona, she worked as an urban planner in Brazil, firstly in a city government entity in charge of mobility projects and later as an Urban Planner and Project Leader at a renowned urban design and planning office in the country, Grupo Quatro. Her expertise in Masterplans and large-scale projects was complemented by another perspective of urban studies, brought by a master’s degree that focuses on the intersection between urbanism and data science. Laura’s investigations are oriented towards a combined data-driven and human-centered approach to urban development, based on informed decisions through the use of both digital analysis and citizen participation. Her final graduation project, an Urban Regeneration of Campus 1 in Goiânia, Brazil, was awarded in the National Competition of Architecture and Urbanism’s Graduation Projects – 29th Ópera Prima.

Moreover, her work has been presented in different conferences around the world, such as in the CIVITAS Conference “Mobility Powered by the Youth” (Germany) and the 16th AESOP “Young Academics Conference” (Turkey). She has also coordinated international conferences herself, such as the 2nd edition of the “Living University” in Canary Islands, an event focused on self-sufficiency and the blue economy led by IAAC and the economist Gunther Pauli, and the “I Summit REDES – El Urbanismo Próximo” in Barcelona, an event aimed at envisioning the future solutions for cities’ current challenges.