Associate Professor, Associate Dean (Undergraduate)

Alberto de Salvatierra is Associate Dean (Undergraduate) and Associate Professor of Urbanism and Data in Architecture at SAPL, where he runs the Center for Civilization, a design research lab and think tank working at the intersection of cities, society and civilization. He is also Founding Principal of PROXIIMA, an interdisciplinary and multi-scalar design practice based in Calgary, and an alumnus of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative by the World Economic Forum. Comprehensive in scope, his research explores urbanism and data through the intersections of “the city” with morphology, ecology, pedagogy, technology, mythology, and civilization. As a transdisciplinary polymath with experience in architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism, de Salvatierra brings a unique perspective to his teaching and research—synthesizing advanced digital methodologies with a commitment to advance social and environmental dimensions of the built environment while addressing the challenges of our current era through frameworks informed by finance innovation, strategic foresight, and public policy analysis.

De Salvatierra’s educational philosophy reflects his deep appreciation for transdisciplinary collaboration and integrating design with data-driven methodologies. At the UNLV School of Architecture, he redesigned the curriculum of the school’s combined architecture and landscape architecture foundational design studios around digital tools and design visualization, and here, at  the University of Calgary, he has been instrumental in leading and developing the new Bachelor of Design in City Innovation (BDCI) program. This degree combines SAPL’s design disciplines (architecture, planning and landscape architecture) with global citizenship, technical studies, sustainability, entrepreneurship, computational design and data science “in a transdisciplinary design foundation for undergraduate students in preparation for an MArch, MPLan, or MLA degree, or as skills-training to enter a variety of city innovation fields.”

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