Dr. Gabriela Fernandez is an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Geography and Principal Investigator at the Center for Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age (HDMA). She is the Graduate Advisor of the Big Data Analytics Master of Science Program (BDA) at San Diego State University in San Diego, California, USA (https://www.sdsu.edu/). She received a Ph.D. in Urban Planning, Design, and Policy from the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) in Milan, Italy (2018). Former Ph.D. Visiting Student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Architecture, Building Technology, Urban Metabolism Group. She received a B.S. in Public Administration with an emphasis in City Planning (2010) and a Master of City Planning (2012) from the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University. Her research interests include urban metabolism ideologies and material flow analysis of metropolitan cities. Identifying urban typologies and socioeconomic indicators in the urban context while promoting public policy, smart cities, big data analytics, circular economy methods, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and under representative populations (children, elderly, people with disabilities, homeless and refugees, students and academics, women, and LGBTI+ community). She is Co-Founder and Researcher at the Metabolism of Cities, a non-profit organization registered in Brussels, Belgium with data, tools, and publications related to urban metabolism studies.

Research interests

Keyword Interest(s): Urban Metabolism, Industrial Ecology, Material Flow Analysis, Urban Planning, Spatial Analysis and Modeling, Big Data Analytics, US-Mexico International Border, Italy, Environmental Planning, Policy and Design, Smart Cities, UN Sustainable Development Goals, Resource Management, Circular Economy, Minority Populations, Equity, and Inclusion.

Project(s):
Metabolism of Cities Living Lab, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
https://humandynamics.sdsu.edu/Metabolism_of_Cities_Living_Lab/home.html

Urban Metabolism and Minorities
https://metabolismofcities.org/projects/urban-metabolism-minorities/