Rafael De Balanzo Joue

Department: Math and Science
School: School of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Email: rdebalan@pratt.edu
Phone: 718.636.3764
Websites: https://linktr.ee/UrbanResilienceThinkingDesign; Instagram; Twitter
Pronouns: He/Him/His

Biography

Rafael de Balanzo Joue is the founder of Resilience Thinking Design Studio, a multidisciplinary collective bringing together artists, engineers, economists, environmental scientists, and landscape architects, whose transnational practice bridges innovation and sustainability across continents. As a Fulbright Specialist (2025-2028) and a Europe-licensed architect with a PhD in Sustainability, he brings expertise to international academic and cultural exchange initiatives, leading the Pratt Barcelona program.

Currently based between New York City and Barcelona, Rafael leads the Pratt Earth Public Sphere research initiative, an transdisciplinary program exploring the intersection of environmental consciousness and public space design. His current portfolio includes the development of a groundbreaking cultural and ecological project for the 2026 Barcelona World Architecture City, a prestigious UNESCO-designated initiative that will showcase innovative approaches to urban sustainability and his active involvement in initiatives supporting the Barcelona 2026 International Union of Architects Congress. He has also been developing projects funded by the Russel Sage Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Municipal Art Society of New York, the Social Practice CUNY, Stevens Initiative, CUNY Research, National Science Foundation among others.

Teaching:

At Pratt Institute, Rafael serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor, affiliated with the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Department of Math and Science) and the School of Architecture and Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment. He is teaches courses on sustainability, resilience thinking, and regenerative design [SES-631; MSCI-271 and MSCI-411] at the Pratt School of Architecture (SoA) for undergraduate and graduate level at the Graduate Center of Planning and Environment (GCPE). He is also a Pratt NSF-funded project fellow, Exploring Transdisciplinary Approaches to STEM Teaching and Learning, Director of the Pratt Barcelona Program and co-leader of the Pratt Public Sphere., his research and work has intentionally focus in Sustainability science using the resilience thinking design approach to understand the social-technological-ecological systems dynamics and cycles of change in linked complex adaptive systems such as cities, communities, and habitats. Beyond Pratt, he is a guest professor at the School of Architecture and Landscape of Bordeaux and the Politecnico di Milano (Polimi).

He is also currently CUNY adjunct assistant professor at the School of Earth and Environmental Science and the School of Business at Queens College, and QC NSF Fellow for the NSF-funded grant MakeSTEAM-Q Project fellowship: “An Interdisciplinary Design Program: Incorporating Making and Design Thinking to Enhance Undergraduate STEM Education, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, EINA Art & Design School and Erasmus + research project Fellow for ARDES online Sustainability Course and guest professor at ENSAP School of Architecture in France and Politecnico di Milano University in Italy. His research in Sustainability science used the resilience thinking design approach by understanding the social-technological-ecological systems dynamics and cycles of change in linked complex adaptive systems such as cities, communities, and buildings. He is a member of the Habitat Action Without Borders Work Program of the Architects Without Borders International (ASF-int), he received the 2021-2023 Russell Sage Research Project Grant Award and the 2022-23 CUNY Interdisciplinary Research Grant. He previously received architecture awards from the Belgium Government and the Associations of Spanish and Catalan Architects and he was the recipient of the 2019 Colombia Fulbright Chair for Urban Resilience at Del Tolima University, Ibague, Colombia. He is a former lecturer at the University Pompeu Fabra, ELISAVA School of Engineering and Design, Barcelona, Spain, and the University of Southampton, Winchester School of Art, UK.