The Fourth National Housing Forum: City and Housing, Heritage and Rights, organized by Obra Blanca in alliance with FCARM, CANADEVI Valle de México, and Fundación Mejor Ciudad, brings together experts and key stakeholders to reflect on the structural challenges facing housing in Mexico. The forum places the inseparable relationship between city and housing at the center of the conversation, highlighting heritage as a form of collective identity and rights as the foundation for ensuring a dignified and sustainable habitat. Its scope extends beyond the home itself to include the public spaces that strengthen social cohesion.
DAY 1 – TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13th
10:45–11:00 a.m. Opening Ceremony – Welcome.
- Fernando Lozano, President of Obra Blanca.
- Eugenia González, Director of Public Relations at Obra Blanca.
- Miguel Sosa, President of FCARM.
11:00–11:50 a.m. “The National Housing Program.”
- Circe Díaz, Director General of Housing Policy at SEDATU.
A talk on the program’s objectives and the outlook for this joint effort to guarantee the right to adequate housing, with quality, safety, and a forward-looking vision.
11:50 a.m.–12:10 p.m. Q&A Session.
12:20–1:10 p.m. “The Right to a City with Heritage and Housing.”
- Dolores Martínez, Deputy Director General of Architectural Artistic Heritage at INBAL, National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.
- Carlos Ortiz, Founding Partner of CO2 Taller.
- Gerardo Boué, Founder of Boué Arquitectos.
A dialogue exploring the recovery and preservation of heritage through housing as a driver of urban improvement, understanding housing not only as shelter, but as the place where community life, work, education, and culture come together.
1:10–1:30 p.m. Q&A Session.
DAY 2 – WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14th
10:45–11:00 a.m. Welcome. Introduction of participants.
11:00–11:55 a.m. “Housing Transformations in Rural Contexts: Tourism and Real Estate Markets.”
- Marcos Betanzos, Managing Partner at FUNDAMENTAL.
- Luis Armando Díaz Infante Chapa, Secretary of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC), National Office.
A dialogue to understand how these processes not only transform the form and use of housing, but also reshape the social, economic, and cultural relationships within communities, creating tensions between tradition, development, and sustainability.
12:00–12:55 p.m. “Learning to Live Together: Housing Does Not End at Your Front Door.”
- Mara Montañés, Focal Point for Querétaro, UNESCO Learning City.
- Leticia Aguilar, Director of Unlugar A.C.
- Luciana Renner, Executive Director of Fundación Placemaking.
A panel discussion exploring how the design of public space and citizen participation can transform our neighborhoods into places that strengthen learning, social interaction, and a sense of community.
1:00–1:30 p.m. Q&A Session.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Geography from the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Management at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), with research focused on public policies for access to affordable housing and local development.
She currently serves as Director General of Housing Policy at the Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU), where she plays a key role in the design and monitoring of the 2025–2030 National Housing Program. She coordinates housing policy across all three levels of government, manages the National Housing Information and Indicators System (SNIIV), organizes the National Housing Council, and participates in the coordination of the Housing for Well-Being Program.
Previously, as Deputy Director General of Housing Analysis, Foresight and Sustainability at the National Housing Commission (CONAVI), she helped drive a shift in housing policy toward recognizing housing as a social good and a human right. She led CONAVI’s Statistical System, where she coordinated updates to the calculation of housing need, developed methodologies to measure the housing deficit, and managed strategic areas related to institutional planning, territorial analysis, and sustainability. She also contributed to CONAVI’s institutional restructuring and the design of operational processes.
In the private sector, she has participated in the development of Municipal Urban Development Programs and Municipal Risk Atlases. She has represented SEDATU and CONAVI at various national and international forums on social housing, housing sustainability, and gender-responsive public policy.
She has represented Mexico and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) at various national and international forums and events focused on heritage conservation and the recognition and promotion of Mexican architecture. In the 1980s, while studying architecture, she collaborated with architect Ma. de Lourdes Martínez Cantú’s practice on a range of restoration projects, urban improvement consulting, and research for television programs on Mexican architecture and music for Canal 22.
In 1984, she began working with the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature, within the Directorate of Architecture and Conservation of Artistic Built Heritage and the National Museum of Architecture. Her work has included the installation of numerous exhibitions and special research projects in the private archives of architects José Villagrán García, Enrique del Moral, Enrique Yáñez de la Fuente, and Carlos Obregón Santacilia, among others.
In May 2022, she received the 2021 Medal for Merit in the Arts, in the Cultural Heritage category, awarded by the Cultural Rights Commission of the Congress of Mexico City. In October 2022, she received the CAM-SAM “Carlos Chanfón Olmos” Award for the Rescue and Conservation of Architectural Heritage, granted by the Colegio de Arquitectos Mexicanos and the Sociedad de Arquitectos Mexicanos.
She is a Full and Emeritus Member of the National Academy of Architecture and a member of CAM-SAM.
She currently serves as Deputy Director General of Artistic Built Heritage at the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL).
He is an architect from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) and holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the 21st Century Housing Laboratory at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. He is founding partner and Managing Director of CO2 Taller, as well as founding partner and Planning Director of SAKI Soluciones de Ciudad.
He served as Academic Secretary of the Architecture program at UANL from 2015 to 2017. He currently serves as Deputy Director of Outreach at the Faculty of Architecture, where he also teaches the Integrated Studio “Housing and City” and the Project Studio in the Master’s Program in Interior Environments.
He was a finalist for the 2003 CEMEX Building Award and has received several Honorable Mentions at the Nuevo León Architecture Biennials for projects including Casa Linda Vista, Riviera, Corporativo Rolmex, Edén Flor y Café, Departamento Santa Fé, and the restoration of Casa Protexa. He has also received the Calli de Cristal award at the same biennial for Casa Muralla, MS Borbon, and El Uro.
In 2011, he was a finalist at the World Architecture Festival for Zócalo 11 de Julio. He has also been a finalist in Obras de Impacto del Norte and in Revista Obras’ 2017 Building of the Year awards. In 2018, he won the CEMEX Award in the Collective Spaces category and received second place internationally in the same competition. In 2024, he was awarded the Silver Medal at the Tabasco Architecture Biennial, in addition to receiving an Honorable Mention.
On two occasions, he was selected by Revista Obras for its special edition “Diez Despachos.”
He received a grant from the Young Art Creators Program of Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA) for the 2007–2008 period. He served as President of the College of Architects of Nuevo León from 2018 to 2020 and is a Full Member of the National Academy of Architecture.
He has also served on the editorial board of the Real Estate section of the newspaper El Norte and is a member of Open House Monterrey. He has served as a jury member for the PRISMA Mexican Interior Design Awards, as a guest juror for the 35th Alberto J. Pani Architectural Composition Award, and as a member of the selection committee for the 2024 National Architecture Award.
He has lectured at universities throughout Latin America, and his work has been published in numerous national media outlets and exhibited at various international forums.
A graduate of Universidad Anáhuac in 1982, he later expanded his education with specialized studies in architecture and business management. He completed the Master in Real Estate Development (MDI) at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, the Senior Management Program at IPADE Business School in Mexico, and the Advanced Management Development Program (AMDP) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in the United States.
Throughout his career, he has developed projects in Mexico and abroad, building extensive professional experience. His work has been featured in various publications and has received notable awards. He is currently actively involved in creating new lifestyle concepts and turning them into realities that generate value for both users and investors.
In 1986, he founded Boué Arquitectos, a firm that has established itself as a comprehensive real estate developer specializing in select investment projects that combine design excellence, construction quality, in-depth market knowledge, and advanced methodologies. With a strong track record, the firm has designed and built residential, commercial, tourism, urban revitalization, and real estate development projects, consolidating a solid foundation of experience and strategic vision.
A passion for creativity and innovation has guided Boué Arquitectos through a continuous process of learning and evolution, now enriched by the incorporation of a new generation of architects: committed, talented professionals with a fresh perspective that strengthens every stage of the process. This intergenerational synergy, together with trust, creative freedom, and a systematized operational structure, enables the firm to imagine and deliver spaces that respond to contemporary needs with intelligence and sensitivity, achieving efficient results with vision and a positive, lasting impact on the urban environment.
Architect trained at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) and architectural photographer. Together with Cinthia Xochicale and Víctor Hugo Betanzos, he is a managing partner of FUNDAMENTAL, an architecture, urban design, and landscape studio that has won several national public competitions. The studio’s career includes collaborations with firms and architects such as Sordo Madaleno, SOMA, Pascal Arquitectos, and Lucio Muniain, as well as the development of projects across different typologies for brands including Alsea and CINEMEX, and for non-governmental organizations such as WIEGO.
He is the author of the photographic project Carreteros: historia de una migración urbana, documented at the Bordo de Xochiaca landfill in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, State of Mexico. In 2011, the project received the 5th Mirada Joven International Award in the Image category. In 2012, he won second place in the international photography competition Landscapes in Transition, organized by the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2013, he received a FONCA Young Creators Grant for his project #BORDOS100 in the field of Architecture.
He earned a Master’s degree with Honors in Habitat and Socio-Territorial Equity from Universidad Iberoamericana, where he conducted research on the environmental, economic, and social impacts of rural transformation in the Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, Mexico. This research received the 2025 National Design Award: Diseña México in the Research Thesis category.
He is currently developing a long-term project documenting the changes, diversification, and transformation of rural territories across Mexico, and he teaches at the School of Architecture, Art and Design at Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Civil Engineer with a Master’s Degree in Engineering, specializing in Operations Research, from the School of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He also holds a Manage Mentor diploma from Harvard Business School.
For the past 20 years, he has been a professor at UNAM’s School of Engineering. He currently teaches Development and Financing of Real Estate and Infrastructure Projects in Mexico in its Graduate Studies Division and has supervised several master’s degree theses.
Since March 2022, he has been a member of the Governing Board of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
He currently serves as National Secretary of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC) for the 2024–2027 term. He previously served as President of the CMIC Mexico City Chapter from 2019 to 2021.
In October 2018, he joined the Mexican Academy of Engineering as a Full Member with the paper “The Implementation of FIBRAs for Financing Adequate Housing in Mexico for People Not Affiliated with ONAVIs.” He also served as President of the Municipal and Urban Engineering Commission of the Mexican Academy of Engineering from 2020 to 2022.
He currently serves as Deputy Treasurer of the 40th Council of the College of Civil Engineers of Mexico.
He is a founding partner of INERSIA Sar Monitoring and KAN MAK, companies specializing in satellite monitoring to identify and assess deformation in land and structures.
From 2021 to 2023, he was a member of the Technical Board of the Institute for Democratic Planning and Prospective Studies of Mexico City.
He has more than 30 years of professional experience focused on the development of social and affordable housing real estate projects. He specializes in the sustainable redevelopment of properties in Mexico City, as well as in their financing, commercialization, and operation.
He participated in the development of the Master Plan for the Bicentennial Logistics Platform, commissioned by the Trust for the Development of Industrial Parks and Zones in the State of Mexico (FIDEPAR). He also collaborated with Mexico’s Federal Ministry of Economy on the Logistics FIBRAs project in Mexico.
Graphic designer, Master’s degree holder in Innovation and Business Development from ITESM, and transformational coach. She is the founder and director of La Jabonera Centro de Diseño, a studio that has developed projects in graphic communication, strategic design, innovation, and product development for companies, institutions, and organizations since 2001.
With more than fifteen years of experience as a speaker, educator, and facilitator, she has led workshops and processes focused on creativity, strategic thinking, innovation, and complex problem-solving in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia. She has collaborated with universities, foundations, artisan communities, and national and international companies, supporting the development of creative teams, strategic planning, and the creation of new solutions.
In 2024, she received the Diseña México UNESCO National Design Award in recognition of her professional career. She currently serves as the Focal Point for Querétaro Learning City before UNESCO, as an advisor and strategic supporter of Querétaro Creative City of Design, and as the Design representative on the Council of the Querétaro Cluster for Culture and Creative Industries.
She has also worked as a consultant on strategic design processes for Mexican cities seeking to join UNESCO networks, promoting creativity as a tool for personal, business, educational, and social transformation, as well as for collective and civic learning.
Architect and urban planner with more than nine years of experience in participatory design, public space, and community-based urban development in Mexico and Latin America. She holds a degree in Architecture from Tecnológico de Monterrey and a Master’s degree in Urbanism from UNAM.
She has collaborated with municipal governments, civil society organizations, academic institutions, and private companies in the design and implementation of public space projects through participatory processes.
As part of her professional career, she completed an internship at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects in New York and worked as a project manager at Ambrosi | Etchegaray in Mexico City, as well as at G3 Arquitectos and Marván Arquitectos in Querétaro. She was also part of the Mobility Department of the Municipality of Querétaro and participated in the international initiative Espacios de Paz in Venezuela.
Since 2012, she has been co-founder and Executive Director of UnLugar A.C., an organization dedicated to promoting urban transformation through public space and citizen participation, with a focus on children, play, spatial justice, and strengthening the social fabric.
She is currently also a professor at Tecnológico de Monterrey and UNAM, an independent consultant, and a social and urban activist.
Architect and Executive Director of Fundación Placemaking. For more than ten years, she has coordinated, advised, and designed participatory urban development programs in Mexico and Latin America, with a particular focus on public space, community resilience, early childhood, gender, and well-being.
She has led initiatives such as LAPIS – Child-Friendly Places, implemented in 23 Mexican states and five Latin American countries, as well as urban regeneration projects, technical assistance programs, and capacity-building initiatives for governments, organizations, and communities.
Her work focuses on promoting participatory processes that strengthen social ownership, safety, and the resilience of public spaces through collaboration among citizens, institutions, and strategic partners.
