Alumni | Master of Urban Design | University of Miami

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Our Alumni and Their Stories

Program alumni are exemplars of the initiative with which our graduates depart and the impact they exert on communities throughout the world.  They are also a resource for current students in the Urban Design program and graduates seeking career advice and employment.  Several faculty members in the School of Architecture are alumni of the program, including Steven Fett, Ricardo Lopez, and Veruska Vazconez.
While many described below have remained in Florida where their influence on the State’s development can be seen, and where they serve as a continuing resource to UM’s Urban Design students, the program can put our students in touch with alumni worldwide.


Marcela Camblor-Cutsaimanis

was the Project Director for the federally-funded Sustainable Communities Initiative Seven50: Southeast Florida Prosperity Plan, a seven-county fifty-year plan.  After many years working with Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, she is currently running the architecture and planning consulting firm Marcela Camblor and Associates, in Stuart, FL.

Anthea Giannotis

is Principal Planner in Development Services at the City of Delray Beach, FL.  In her prior work with the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCRPC), she participated in more than 40 charrettes, providing urban design, form-based code development, and smart-growth comprehensive planning assistance to local governments in a four-county region of Florida. 

Victor Dover and Joe Kohl

founders of Dover Kohl Partners lead an influential practice of urban designers with projects worldwide.  Recognized for the firm’s highly engaging public design process, they recently were the lead consultant for Seven50, a federally-funded seven-county fifty-year regional plan for South Florida.

Galina Tachieva

is managing partner of DPZ CoDesign.  Originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, she came to UM for graduate studies, and upon receiving her degree joined DPZ where she leads the Miami office.  The author ofSprawl Repair, Tachieva is a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, leading the CNU’s research initiative on suburban retrofitting.

Ramon Trias

is the director of Planning for the City of Coral Gables, graduated from UM with a B.Arch. and an M.Arch. in Suburb and Town Design (MUD’s predecessor degree).  He led the planning department of Ft. Pierce, FL before returning to Coral Gables.

Matt Lister

is Managing Director of the Jan Gehl office in New York City. He is a creative urban place-maker, real estate development strategist and designer, with projects in cities across the U.S. including Lexington, Denver, and Miami.  He is also Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute.

Gonzalo Echeverria

is director of Design and Development for the McCord Company in Houston, TX.  This follows many years designing new communities and housing with Looney, Ricks, Kiss in their Princeton, and Philadelphia offices.  He has been a Trustee for the Pittsburgh History and Landmark Development Corp., active on the American Planning Association, the Urban Land Institute, and the Congress for the New Urbanism.

Tony Garcia

is a Principal of Street Plans Collaborative. A nationally recognized architect, writer, speaker and advocate in the in the field of transit, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, Tony is co-author of the globally acclaimed series Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action, Long-Term Change Vol. 1-4. Working out of the Miami office of Street Plans, he co-founded the Ludlam Trail project, which will result in the addition of over 50 acres of new park space in Miami-Dade County.  From 2008 to 2012 he was the publisher and managing editor of the transportation blog TransitMiami, an award winning web journal dedicated to public participation and discourse in South Florida. 

Juan Mullerat

is the founding principal of Plusurbia Design. Based in Miami, he and his firm have worked on numerous successful revitalization projects around the world, from Miami to China.  He is currently working with several municipalities on urban interventions at a variety of scales, and with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Lawrence Qamar

architect and planner, started his own consulting practice in 2002 in Seattle, WA.  His prior trajectory included being Principal, and Director of Urban Design at Lennertz Coyle & Associates in Portland, and internships in Miami, New York City and Aspen.  In the Northwest and across the U.S., Laurence has been designing walkable urban solutions for transit-oriented developments, main street revitalizations, mixed-use centers, sustainable neighborhoods, urban infill housing, and form-based codes..

Christopher Carrigan

practices traditional architecture, mixed-use master planning, and campus planning with the Atlanta office of Historical Concepts.  He has served as President of the Atlanta Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism, and he has volunteered as a visiting adjunct faculty member at the University of Miami.

Daniel DeAngelo

is an architect and town planner, working as Project Coordinator for the City of Cleveland Housing Development Office.

Elbert Whitfield

is a planner and urban designer at Solomon Cordwell Buenz in Chicago, IL, an architecture, interior design, and planning firm that practices nationally. 

Wei Liu

is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Sustainable Urbanism at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Xiying Li

completed a research thesis on the topic of village preservation in China, is working in Shanghai at the Architectural Design & Research Institute in the urban design group.

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