Ana María Fernández-Maldonado has recently retired. She is a senior researcher at the chair of Spatial Planning and Strategy of the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology, where she has been working since 1992. Previously, she worked as an architect and urban planner in her own architectural practice in collaboration with two other architects in Lima, Peru; as an urban planner in a borough in Lima; and as a researcher of urban trends in informal settlements in Lima.
Ana Maria has presented her research work at many international conferences and published in many scientific journals and books. She has been a keynote speaker at the 42nd ISOCARP Congress in Istanbul (2006); the Knowledge Cities World Summit in Melbourne (2010); and the International Congress Cities of People in Rio de Janeiro (2012). She has also been invited to present her work at the universities of the Utrecht, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice, Mexico City, Ciudad Juarez and Lima.
Ana Maria also has work experience in European projects such as PLEEC (Planning for Energy Efficient Cities) and COHESIFY (Understanding the impact of EU Cohesion Policy on European identification). She is currently the general coordinator of the ESPON-COMPASS project (Comparative Analysis of Territorial Governance and Spatial Planning Systems in Europe).
Since August 2014 she has been appointed PhD mentor for urban planning PhD students within the Faculty of Architecture. In that capacity, her role is to support PhD students in their PhD process and mutual relationship with promoters and supervisors.
Her current research and publications focus on housing and planning policies and urban transformations in Latin American cities; spatial planning and territorial governance in Europe and comparative studies.