缅北禁地

Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Dr Natalia Villamizar Duarte

Lectureship in Urban Design, Degree Programme Director MA Urban Design and Master in Architecture and Urban Planning (Urban Design pathway)

  • Email: natalia.villamizar-duarte@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: 0191 208 6006
  • Address: School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
    缅北禁地, Henry Daysh Building, Room 7.20
    缅北禁地 upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU, UK
Background

I am an urban planner and designer interested in people’s experiences of their cities, particularly in the policies that shape those experiences. I have over 20 years of experience in urban design, urban planning, and policymaking in both academic and professional settings. My research explores how social practices, urban planning and design, and policymaking intersect to shape—and often perpetuate—spatial and social inequities. Grounded in the ethics of collaboration, my work prioritises building equitable partnerships through engaged scholarship and co-creation with a focus on community-led spatial practices, urban mobility, and public space.


Qualifications

  • PhD in Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (2019) Negotiating Ideology and Regulation: planning and governing public space in Bogota 1988-2018
  • MSc. in Development and Planning: Building and Urban Design in Development at University College London (2007)
  • Specialisation Degree in Urban Design at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá (2004)
  • Graduate degree in Architecture at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá (2001)


Affiliations

International Network for Transport and Accessibility in Low-Income Communities – Latin American chapter 

缅北禁地 Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies CLAC

RC21 – Research Committee on Urban and Regional Development of the International Sociological Association


Languages

Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian (basic) 


Student Drop-in Hour

Friday from 11:00 to 12:00 (during term time) in my office. Please email me for a meeting online and/or at another time

Research

My research explores how social practices, urban planning and design, and policymaking intersect to shape—and often perpetuate—spatial and social inequities. Grounded in the ethics of collaboration, my work prioritises building equitable partnerships through engaged scholarship and co-creation with a focus on community-led spatial practices, urban mobility, and public space.


Current funded projects

Co-Investigator, On the way to and from school (OWS): active mobility interventions for the promotion of physical activity and mental well-being in adolescents in Bogotá, Colombia and Maputo, Mozambique, Funded by MRC and GACD,


Co-Investigator, Mobility with Equity: Gender, Climate Vulnerability, and the BRT Amazonas in Belo Horizonte, Funded by the Gender and Environment Data Alliance (GEDA) Small Grants program for 2025-26


Co-Investigator, A mobilidade espacial da população idosa brasileira e colombiana: desafios e oportunidades desiguais. Funded by CNPq, Brazil


Recent funded projects

Co-investigator, Pedagogies of Territorial Reparation: Co-producing 'Neighbourhoods of Peace' in Medellin's Territorial Planning, funded by UCL Global Engagement Funds (GEF).


Co-Investigator, ‘Archivo Vivo [Living archive]: weaving gendered (hi)stories of urban reclamation in Moravia’, funded by Imagining Futures through Un/Archived Pasts. Phase 2 Commission Projects. More information: 

 

Principal Investigator, ‘Usage and perception of e-scooters in 缅北禁地’, funded by The Global Urban Research Unit, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, 缅北禁地 


Co-Investigator, ‘Counter mapping diaspora and queer communities’ living heritage in Sheffield’, funded by The Centre for Critical Heritage Studies Small Grant Scheme. More information:   


Teaching

My teaching approach builds on critical pedagogy, blending theory and practice to encourage students to reflect on the ways power and knowledge intersect in policymaking, urban design, and planning. I strive to challenge students to think critically about their role in building just and sustainable urban communities while using creative approaches to make cities more inclusive and equitable.

 

  • ARC8115 Design Studio [MA Urban Design] | Module Lead & Design Tutor
  • APL3008 Green Infrastructure for Well-being & Biodiversity [BA Architecture & Urban Planning] | Module Lead & Design Tutor
  • TCP8025 Linked Research Project | Social Infrastructures in the North East (in collaboration with Dr Diego Garcia-Mejuto)
  • ARC8117 Design Thesis [MA Urban Design] | Tutor


Contributor:

  • ARC8069 Housing Alternatives [MA Urban Design] | Module Co-led & Reviewer
  • TCP8920 Globalisation and Social Justice Project [MSc Urban Planning] | Lecture on Transport & Accessibility 
  • TCP8921 Globalisation and Social Justice [MSc Urban Plannning] | Lecture on Transport & Accessibility 


Publications

  • Articles

    • Viana Cerqueira E, Ardila Pinto AM, Villamizar-Duarte N, Antunes Lessa D, Ruiz CA. . Urban Studies 2025, Epub ahead of print.
    • Villamizar Duarte,N, Ardila Pinto,AM, Viana Cerqueira,E, Lessa,DA, Cicci Faria,G. . Third World Quarterly 2025. In Press.
    • Ortiz Catalina, Villamizar Duarte Natalia, García Fernández Laia, Talocci Giorgio. . Cities 2023, 142, 104533.
    • Oviedo D, Sabogal O, Villamizar Duarte N, Chong AZW. . Journal of Transport & Health 2022, 27, 101513.
    • Montoya-Tangarife C, Villamizar Duarte N, Jorquera Guajardo F, Cardenas MF, Giraldo-Ospina T. . Frontiers in Sustainable Cities 2022, 4, 796122.
    • Ardila Pinto AM, Villamizar Duarte N. Ciudad(anía) en movimiento: construcción social de instrumentos de políticas de movilidad en Bogotá y Belo Horizonte 1995-2015. Universitas Humanística 2018, 85.

  • Book Chapters

    • Ortiz,C,Villamizar Duarte,N, Folley,J,Fouseki,K. . In: Veysel Apaydin, Kalliopi Fouseki, David Francis, Jonathan Gardner, Rachel King, Sara Perry, ed. Critical Heritage and Social Justice. Redistribution, Recognition and Representation in Context (Tentative title). UCL Press, 2025. In Press.
    • Oviedo D, Wilches-Mogollon MA, Villamizar Duarte N. . In: Shaw, Jon; Ison, Stephen; Attard, Maria, ed. Towards Transport Net Zero. Leeds: Emerald Publishing Limited, 2025, pp.225-240.
    • Ortiz C, Villamizar Duarte N. . In: Isayev E; O'Leary McNeice A; Melo Flórez JA; Uğur O, ed. Imagining Futures Collected Works. Un/Archival Conversations and Practices. Exeter: Imagining Futures, 2025.
    • Villamizar Duarte N, Ardila Pinto AM, Ferreira de Gois MP. . In: Julie Cidell, ed. A Research Agenda for Transport Equity and Mobility Justice. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024, pp.105–120.
    • Da Cruz C, Cabral M, Villamizar Duarte N, Arenas García N. . In: Lourenço Magnoni Junior, Maria da Graça Mello Magnoni, Mayleen Cabral, et al, ed. Ensino de geografi a e a redução do risco de desastres em espaços urbanos e rurais. São Paulo: Centro Paula Souza, 2022, pp.15-38.
    • Villamizar Duarte N, Oviedo D, Ardila Pinto AM. . In: Oviedo, D; Villamizar Duarte, N; Ardila Pinto, AM, ed. Urban Mobility and Social Equity in Latin America: Evidence, Concepts, Methods, Vol. 12. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2020, pp.1-10.

  • Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

    • Ortiz V, Villamizar Duarte N. . In: XIII Seminario Internacional de Investigación en Urbanismo, Barcelona-Bogotá, Junio 2021. 2021, Barcelona-Bogotá: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, Universidad de Los Andes, Universidad Piloto de Colombia.
    • Villamizar Duarte N. Informalization as a Process: Theorizing Informality as a Lens to rethink Planning Theory and Practice in Bogota, Colombia. In: RC21 Conference 2015 The Ideal City: between myth and reality. 2015, Urbino, Italy.

  • Edited Books

    • Oviedo D, Villamizar Duarte N, Ardila Pinto AM, ed. . Emerald Publishing Limited, 2020.
    • Villamizar Duarte N, Talavera Davila H, ed. . Bogotá: Editorial UN, 2018.

  • Editorials

    • Villamizar Duarte N, Ardila Pinto AM, López-García D, Hernández D. . Area Development and Policy 2025, 10(2), 149-161.
    • Villamizar Duarte N. Presentación al Dossier: Bordes urbanos - Teorías, políticas y prácticas para la construcción de territorios de diálogo. Bitácora Urbano Territorial 2014, 2(24), 31-33.

  • Reports

    • Vargas López, P, Naranjo Giraldo, G, Rengifo, C, Ortiz Arciniegas, C, Villamizar Duarte, N, Torres Toro, E, Zapata, F, Lopera, JE. . Medellin: Universidad de Antioquia, University College London, 缅北禁地, Corporacion Convivamos, Planearte SAS, 2024.
    • Ortiz, C, Villamizar Duarte, N. . UCL, 缅北禁地, Moravitas, Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia, Planearte SAS, 2023.
    • Ortiz C, Villamizar Duarte N, Talocci G, Garcia Fernandez L, Bennett J, Hafez N. . London: University College London, 2022.