Ana Paula is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge on a Land Economy Department scholarship. Her PhD investigates the impact of green and blue spaces’ spatial characteristics and population health outcomes. She explores these phenomena through the lens of complexity theory, observing linear, non-linear, self-organizing, and dynamic relations, using dynamic spatial analysis and agent-based modelling (ABM). Ana is also a Research Assistant in the Horizon 2020 Emotional Cities Project, which investigates the impact of urban design in mental and neural health.

Ana has a BSc in Architecture and Urban Planning (2015) and a MRes in Sustainability of the Built Environment (2018) from the University of Brasília (UnB), Brazil. In her Master, she explored the impact of different patterns of urban occupation on the natural infiltration of rainwater using aerial image processing and spatial analysis technics, highlighting the challenges imposed by urbanization on aquifer recharge areas.

Before starting the PhD, she worked for 4 years for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Brazilian government, both at the federal and state level, on sustainable urban development policymaking focusing on policies that address the conservation of natural resources and initiatives aimed at reducing environmental pollution, GHG emissions, and promoting renewable energy sources. During her PhD, she also worked for the European Commission in the Directorate-General of Urban and Regional Policy with the monitoring and impact evaluation of Cohesion Policy programmes.

• MPhil Small Group Supervision, RM03: Spatial Analysis and Modelling, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge (2022)
• Lectured part of the Undergraduate Urban Infrastructure course, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Brasilia (2017-2018)
• Undergraduate Small Group Supervision, Reinforced Concrete Structure, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Brasilia (2011)

Ana Paula’s main research interests are Urban Green Infrastructure, Urban Health, Urban Environmental Policymaking, Spatial Planning Instruments, Urban Sustainable Development, Complexity Theory, Theory of Change, Spatial Analysis technics, and Dynamic Simulation.

Conference Presentations

•   International Urban Planning and Environment Congress – IUPE 13 (Tartu, Estonia). “Systematic review of Current Urban Health Variables Prioritized in Policy at EU and Global level: A Policy-to-Science approach”. (2022)
• International Urban Planning and Environment Congress – IUPE 13 (Tartu, Estonia). “Spatial Analysis of Urban Health: And Emotional Cities Project Protocol” (2022)
• Healthy City Design 2021 International Congress (London, UK/ Online). “Literature review of Green–Blue Spaces and Health Research between 2000-2021: A Bibliometric Analysis”. (2021)
• Cambridge Land Economy Early Career Researchers’ Conference (Cambridge, UK/Online) “Addressing complexity in the role of green and blue spaces in achieving healthier cities”. (2021)

Urban and Environmental Policy

Lab of Interdisciplinary Spatial Analysis  (LISA Lab)