He holds a M. Arch in Urban Design from Harvard University and a B. Arch from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela. He is Associate Professor of Practice in the Departments of Landscape Architecture and City Planning at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. His areas of research focus on urbanization in developing countries where a high percentage of the population will live in self-constructed settlements, dealing with climate change, and safeguarding cultural landscapes. He has been Chair of the School of Architecture at Universidad Simón Bolívar, co-founder of the Urban Design program and Director of the Mayor's Institute at Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, and Adjunct Secretary of Urban Development of Venezuela. He has led landscape and urban design studios in sites in more than 80 cities and has had over 7,000 students.