Mari Paz Agúndez

Mari Paz graduated from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2015. She also completed her first master's year at TU Berlin. She has worked in several international studios such as Sauerbruch Hutton, Nieto Sobejano, and Herzog de Meuron. In 2019 she started her dissertation which she has been conducting along with her practical work as an architect for the studio GMP. In September 2023, she joined the University Regensburg where she works for the Fairville project, funded by the European Union, Horizon 2020, where she researches how does co-production can reduce inequalities. In July 2024, she successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation.

Her research investigates the impact of borders on the urbanism of the city and on the development of urban life. Her case study is based in Ceuta, a Spanish city located in Africa, where the European border takes its most defensive and exclusive form. Under a multiscalar approach, she analyzes the different agents controlling the region and the power negotiations between them. She pursues her dissertation within the Habitat Unit Chair, at the TU Berlin and in collaboration with the urbanism department of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. She is currently a lecturer at the Berlin International University.

CV

Since Sept 2023
Post Doctoral Researcher
Universität Regensburg, Fairville Project

Since 2018
Senior Architect
Gerkan Marg & Partner, Berlin

07.2017 - 08.2018
Architect
Herzog & de Meuron; Berlin

01.2016 - 07.2017
Junior Architect
Gerkan, Marg und Partner GmbH

06.2014 - 09.2014
Internship
Nieto Sobejano, Berlin

02.2014 - 04.2014
Internship
Alfonso Azqueta Studio, Madrid

07.2013 - 12.2013
Internship
Sauerbruch Hutton, Berlin

Educational Background

2019-2024
Doctoral dissertation at the Habitat Unit chair, Institute for Architecture, Technische Universität Berlin under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Philipp Misselwitz and Prof. Dr. Javier Ruiz from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

2013-2015
Master of arts in architecture and urban design. Investigation on the Spanish migrant reception system and projection and development of a welcome center for migrants, supervised by Prof A. Barbarín (Universidad Politécnica Madrid)

2012-2013
M.A. Architecture, 1st and 2nd Semester. Exchange program funded by the Erasmus Exchange Programme Scholarship (TU Berlin)

2009-2012
Bachelor of technology in architecture and urban design (Universidad Politécnica Madrid).

Complementary education

2010 - 2012
ACETSAM, Cooperation and development area of the university (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)

2010
Architectural Association School of Architecture, London
Tender is the night, participation in an architecture workshop, design study, fieldwork and final construction of an installation

Grants, Awards and Fellowships

03.2013 - 07.2013
DAAD Travel and Research grant.
TU-Berlin, Habitat Unit. Upgrading Favelas, Vitoria, Brazil

09.2012-12.2013
Erasmus Scholarship, Student and Internship
for 2 Semesters exchange as a student enrolled at the TU- Berlin and an additional semester exchange in Berlin as an intern.

2009
Grant of Excellence of the state of Madrid

Conferences

2023
Architectures of Control and Resistance
Participation in the Symposium at Cornell University

2022
Researching Urbanity
Participation in the Re-Searching Urbanity conference, at Floating University, Berlin

2020
18th IMISCOE’s Annual Conference: Crossing borders, connecting cultures
The urban development of border districts in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta: a dichotomy in productive infrastructure and systemic social segregation.

2019
2nd Global Conference Urbanism at borders.Borders within border.
Ceuta, the border city of the European Fortress in Africa, Malaga, Spain.

Research

Since 2023	Research project investigating how co-production can impair urban inequalities and face democratic challenges Taking the Rathausblock at the heart of Kreuzberg, Berlin, the investigation delves into the co-production process established there and its capacity to promote a social space in which everyone finds a fair a representation.
2019-2024	PhD research project, supervised by Prof P. Misselwitz (TU Berlin) and Prof. Dr Javier Ruiz (UP Madrid) An investigation into the infrastructure of Fortress Europe and how its presence in the border city of Ceuta, segregates the society, impacts on the economy and consequently shapes the urban development of the city.
2014-2015	Master’s degree research project, supervised by Prof A. Barbarín (UP Madrid) An advanced and thorough investigation on the Spanish migrant reception system and projection and development of a welcome center for migrants, providing first aid facilities and implementing their social and economic inclusion.

Publications

2024
Urban Planning
Urban Borderlands: Difference, Inequality, and Spatio-Temporal In-Betweenness in Cities
Spatial Appropriations over Europe’s Borderland. El Principe’s Growth as a Vestige of Colonial Urban Planning
www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/6942

Journal of Urbanism
Radical Plurality and Design
Multiscalar Conflict and their Resulting Production of Space at the Border City of Ceuta (Accepted Paper)

2019
Springer Editorial
Urbanism at borders. Borders within Borders.
Ceuta, the border city of the European fortress in Africa.
How the multiscalar agents negotiating the urban structure of a city impact the region and the border district of Benzú (Awaiting publication)

Teaching

WiSe 22/23	Transforming Solidarities, Habitat Unit, Technische Universität Berlin Mapping Workshop and Methods Input, with Dr. Moritz Ahlert
SoSe 2022	Transforming Solidarities, Habitat Unit, Technische Universität Berlin Methods Input, with Dr. Anna Steigemann, Dr. Christian Haid
WiSe 22/23	Building Material Sciences, with Jeanne Francois Fischer, Berlin International University, BA Architecture
SoSe 2022	Building construction, with Jeanne Francois Fischer, Berlin International University, BA Architecture
WiSe 21/22	Building Material Sciences, with Jeanne Francois Fischer, Berlin International University, BA Architecture
SoSe 2021	Interior Construction, with Javier Martin, Berlin International University, BA Architecture and BA Interior Architecture
WiSe 20/21	Building Material Sciences, with Javier Martin, Berlin International University, BA Interior Architecture

CV

CV

Educational Background

Grants, Awards and Fellowships

Conferences

Research

Since 2023

2019-2024

2014-2015

Publications

Teaching

WiSe 22/23

SoSe 2022

WiSe 22/23

SoSe 2022

WiSe 21/22

SoSe 2021

WiSe 20/21

Prof. Dr. Anna Steigemann