Jose Gamez | University of North Carolina at Charlotte (original) (raw)
Papers by Jose Gamez
Collaborations: A Journal of Community-based Research and Practice, 2021
This article describes a four-phased action research project that emerged over a sixyear period, ... more This article describes a four-phased action research project that emerged over a sixyear period, eventually leading to a $600,000 investment by local government in a new neighborhood park. We demonstrate, through our community-university partnership, how we built on each phase of action research initially by establishing and developing relationships, increasing participation levels in the neighborhood organization and neighborhood sponsored events, and building long-term participation, which enabled the establishment of a collective vision. This ultimately led to increased social capital and strengthened local power through political voice. We argue that by connecting four phases of action research, we were able to achieve significant community change in partnership with local neighborhood residents and that this form of a long-term and multi-based approach can address some of the common challenges inherent to community-university partnerships.
Technology/Architecture + Design, 2020
COVID-19 will have lasting impact upon our teaching methodologies and learning outcomes, from pri... more COVID-19 will have lasting impact upon our teaching methodologies and learning outcomes, from primary school through higher education. For design schools specifically, this pandemic has reinforced the importance of collaborative design processes across multiple disciplines and modes of inquiry. This article describes UNC Charlotte School of Architecture experiences in spring of 2020.
Schools Respond to a Pandemic José Gámez, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Alex Cabral, ... more Schools Respond to a Pandemic
José Gámez, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Alex Cabral, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Heather Freeman, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Thomas Schmidt, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Closing campuses and remote learning is one result of the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, students, staff and faculty are working together to help communities respond to the impact of COVID-19 using the tools of design and fabrication in ways that can bring new meaning to design education. We will discuss one example from UNC Charlotte with the invitation to other faculty to share information about working with other grassroots initiatives across the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAm5WwYddyk&feature=youtu.be
Routledge Press, 2019
How available on Amazon! Using Rio de Janeiro as the case study city, this book highlights and ex... more How available on Amazon!
Using Rio de Janeiro as the case study city, this book highlights and examines issues surrounding the development of mega-cities in Latin America and beyond. Complex dynamics of urbanization such as mega-event-driven development, infrastructure investment, and informal urban expansion are intertwined with changing climatic conditions that demand new approaches to sustainable urbanism. The urban conditions facing 21st century cities such as Rio emphasize the need to revisit urban forms, reintegrate infrastructure, and re-evaluate practices.
With contributions from 15 scholars from several countries exploring urbanism, urbanization, and climate change, this book provides insights into the contextual and environmental issues shaping Rio in the age of globalization. Each of the book’s three sections addresses an interdisciplinary range of topics impacting urbanism in Latin America, which will be accessible to researchers and professionals interested in urbanization, urban design, sustainability, planning, and architecture.
The spatial territories and social networks within which Latinx immigrant populations live and wo... more The spatial territories and social networks within which Latinx immigrant populations live and work in the South offers robust opportunities to explore new hybrid models of spatial practices and identities. By contrast, long established Latino neighborhoods such as those in Boyle Heights or East Los Angeles, which are what James Rojas has called “enacted landscapes”, now feel the pressures of gentrification—pressures that threaten previously hybridized urban spaces with mainstream homogenization. These student essays highlight “(t)he strands that interlace race, ethnicity, and place in the South” that “are being woven into something new and potentially different through Latino migration” in Charlotte, NC.
The geography of a coastal city, such as its native geological, biological, and physical conditio... more The geography of a coastal city, such as its native geological, biological, and physical conditions, plays an important role in understanding the impacts of climate change upon the area. To better identify strategies for adaption to global climate change, planners and designers need better tools and techniques to learn and analyze the geographical context of their cities on coastlines worldwide. This article describes an urban design studio conducted in the spring of 2014. Students in this class explored the future of North Carolina coastal cities in light of rising global sea level. Geodesign using GIS and other visualization tools enabled the students to focus on urban morphology, development patterns, and environmental characteristics of the city in order to identify new interventions that can support a new set of relationships between urbanity and nature. Cities in any given geographic location are subject to a variety of natural phenomena such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and other hazards. Continuing changes in global climate patterns have altered the natural processes of atmospheric, hydrological, and oceanographic nature around the world. The frequency and severity of floods, storms, droughts, and other weather-related disasters are expected to increase within our lifetimes. While the occurrences of these events cannot be accurately predicted, their impacts can be studied and managed through coordinated efforts on
Using Rio de Janeiro as a case study in urbanization within the context of climate change, this m... more Using Rio de Janeiro as a case study in urbanization within the context of climate change, this multi-year urban design studio examines the challenges of addressing rising sea levels in one of Latin America's largest cities. As a coastal metropolis, Rio requires that heterogeneous networks be woven between ecological and 21 st century urban design processes. Yet, Rio continues to grow in low-lying, ecologically sensitive areas-and this has been exacerbated over recent decades by mega-event driven development coupled with interdependent informal urbanization. These forces characterize Zona Oeste, the focus area of the design initiative. This essay reflects on an international urban design pedagogy that seeks to integrate strategies to address climate change, rising sea levels, and unpredictable growth. Inherently, this project opens up a discussion into many sensitive questions regarding historical and cultural responsiveness. Filtered through the work of Lucio Costa, his proposals for Baja da Tijuca, and opportunities to re-engage the legacy of a modernist plan, students engage this rich context through a discursive design prompt with implications for both pedagogy and practice within and beyond Rio de Janeiro.
Recent story on our urban design program focused on Rio de Janeiro.
At the Provost Awards Reception on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, José Gámez, Associate Professor in ... more At the Provost Awards Reception on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, José Gámez, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, was presented with the 2015 Provost’s Faculty Award for Community Engagement.
Books by Jose Gamez
Rio de Janeiro: Urban Expansion and the Built Environment, 2019
Using Rio de Janeiro as the case study city, this book highlights and examines issues surrounding... more Using Rio de Janeiro as the case study city, this book highlights and examines issues surrounding the development of mega-cities in Latin America and beyond. Complex dynamics of urbanization such as mega-event-driven development, infrastructure investment, and informal urban expansion are intertwined with changing climatic conditions that demand new approaches to sustainable urbanism. The urban conditions facing 21st century cities such as Rio emphasize the need to revisit urban forms, reintegrate infrastructure, and re-evaluate practices.
With contributions from 15 scholars from several countries exploring urbanism, urbanization, and climate change, this book provides insights into the contextual and environmental issues shaping Rio in the age of globalization. Each of the book’s three sections addresses an interdisciplinary range of topics impacting urbanism in Latin America, which will be accessible to researchers and professionals interested in urbanization, urban design, sustainability, planning, and architecture.
Vertical Urbanism now has an official publication date.
Collaborations: A Journal of Community-based Research and Practice, 2021
This article describes a four-phased action research project that emerged over a sixyear period, ... more This article describes a four-phased action research project that emerged over a sixyear period, eventually leading to a $600,000 investment by local government in a new neighborhood park. We demonstrate, through our community-university partnership, how we built on each phase of action research initially by establishing and developing relationships, increasing participation levels in the neighborhood organization and neighborhood sponsored events, and building long-term participation, which enabled the establishment of a collective vision. This ultimately led to increased social capital and strengthened local power through political voice. We argue that by connecting four phases of action research, we were able to achieve significant community change in partnership with local neighborhood residents and that this form of a long-term and multi-based approach can address some of the common challenges inherent to community-university partnerships.
Technology/Architecture + Design, 2020
COVID-19 will have lasting impact upon our teaching methodologies and learning outcomes, from pri... more COVID-19 will have lasting impact upon our teaching methodologies and learning outcomes, from primary school through higher education. For design schools specifically, this pandemic has reinforced the importance of collaborative design processes across multiple disciplines and modes of inquiry. This article describes UNC Charlotte School of Architecture experiences in spring of 2020.
Schools Respond to a Pandemic José Gámez, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Alex Cabral, ... more Schools Respond to a Pandemic
José Gámez, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Alex Cabral, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Heather Freeman, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Thomas Schmidt, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Closing campuses and remote learning is one result of the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, students, staff and faculty are working together to help communities respond to the impact of COVID-19 using the tools of design and fabrication in ways that can bring new meaning to design education. We will discuss one example from UNC Charlotte with the invitation to other faculty to share information about working with other grassroots initiatives across the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAm5WwYddyk&feature=youtu.be
Routledge Press, 2019
How available on Amazon! Using Rio de Janeiro as the case study city, this book highlights and ex... more How available on Amazon!
Using Rio de Janeiro as the case study city, this book highlights and examines issues surrounding the development of mega-cities in Latin America and beyond. Complex dynamics of urbanization such as mega-event-driven development, infrastructure investment, and informal urban expansion are intertwined with changing climatic conditions that demand new approaches to sustainable urbanism. The urban conditions facing 21st century cities such as Rio emphasize the need to revisit urban forms, reintegrate infrastructure, and re-evaluate practices.
With contributions from 15 scholars from several countries exploring urbanism, urbanization, and climate change, this book provides insights into the contextual and environmental issues shaping Rio in the age of globalization. Each of the book’s three sections addresses an interdisciplinary range of topics impacting urbanism in Latin America, which will be accessible to researchers and professionals interested in urbanization, urban design, sustainability, planning, and architecture.
The spatial territories and social networks within which Latinx immigrant populations live and wo... more The spatial territories and social networks within which Latinx immigrant populations live and work in the South offers robust opportunities to explore new hybrid models of spatial practices and identities. By contrast, long established Latino neighborhoods such as those in Boyle Heights or East Los Angeles, which are what James Rojas has called “enacted landscapes”, now feel the pressures of gentrification—pressures that threaten previously hybridized urban spaces with mainstream homogenization. These student essays highlight “(t)he strands that interlace race, ethnicity, and place in the South” that “are being woven into something new and potentially different through Latino migration” in Charlotte, NC.
The geography of a coastal city, such as its native geological, biological, and physical conditio... more The geography of a coastal city, such as its native geological, biological, and physical conditions, plays an important role in understanding the impacts of climate change upon the area. To better identify strategies for adaption to global climate change, planners and designers need better tools and techniques to learn and analyze the geographical context of their cities on coastlines worldwide. This article describes an urban design studio conducted in the spring of 2014. Students in this class explored the future of North Carolina coastal cities in light of rising global sea level. Geodesign using GIS and other visualization tools enabled the students to focus on urban morphology, development patterns, and environmental characteristics of the city in order to identify new interventions that can support a new set of relationships between urbanity and nature. Cities in any given geographic location are subject to a variety of natural phenomena such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and other hazards. Continuing changes in global climate patterns have altered the natural processes of atmospheric, hydrological, and oceanographic nature around the world. The frequency and severity of floods, storms, droughts, and other weather-related disasters are expected to increase within our lifetimes. While the occurrences of these events cannot be accurately predicted, their impacts can be studied and managed through coordinated efforts on
Using Rio de Janeiro as a case study in urbanization within the context of climate change, this m... more Using Rio de Janeiro as a case study in urbanization within the context of climate change, this multi-year urban design studio examines the challenges of addressing rising sea levels in one of Latin America's largest cities. As a coastal metropolis, Rio requires that heterogeneous networks be woven between ecological and 21 st century urban design processes. Yet, Rio continues to grow in low-lying, ecologically sensitive areas-and this has been exacerbated over recent decades by mega-event driven development coupled with interdependent informal urbanization. These forces characterize Zona Oeste, the focus area of the design initiative. This essay reflects on an international urban design pedagogy that seeks to integrate strategies to address climate change, rising sea levels, and unpredictable growth. Inherently, this project opens up a discussion into many sensitive questions regarding historical and cultural responsiveness. Filtered through the work of Lucio Costa, his proposals for Baja da Tijuca, and opportunities to re-engage the legacy of a modernist plan, students engage this rich context through a discursive design prompt with implications for both pedagogy and practice within and beyond Rio de Janeiro.
Recent story on our urban design program focused on Rio de Janeiro.
At the Provost Awards Reception on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, José Gámez, Associate Professor in ... more At the Provost Awards Reception on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, José Gámez, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, was presented with the 2015 Provost’s Faculty Award for Community Engagement.
Rio de Janeiro: Urban Expansion and the Built Environment, 2019
Using Rio de Janeiro as the case study city, this book highlights and examines issues surrounding... more Using Rio de Janeiro as the case study city, this book highlights and examines issues surrounding the development of mega-cities in Latin America and beyond. Complex dynamics of urbanization such as mega-event-driven development, infrastructure investment, and informal urban expansion are intertwined with changing climatic conditions that demand new approaches to sustainable urbanism. The urban conditions facing 21st century cities such as Rio emphasize the need to revisit urban forms, reintegrate infrastructure, and re-evaluate practices.
With contributions from 15 scholars from several countries exploring urbanism, urbanization, and climate change, this book provides insights into the contextual and environmental issues shaping Rio in the age of globalization. Each of the book’s three sections addresses an interdisciplinary range of topics impacting urbanism in Latin America, which will be accessible to researchers and professionals interested in urbanization, urban design, sustainability, planning, and architecture.
Vertical Urbanism now has an official publication date.
In an era of rapid globalization, emerging design professionals must be both globally aware and c... more In an era of rapid globalization, emerging design professionals must be both globally aware and culturally adept. Studying in a foreign country typically represents one of the most significant and unforgettable experiences of one's design education. The perceived walls of an educational institution dematerialize when students travel internationally. Traveling abroad gives students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the larger global community in which they will take part. To travel, as Marshall McLuhan cites, is to encounter the strange and the unfamiliar. In so doing, one discovers insights into other cultures, develops new perspectives, and learns to reflect on how one's own culture has shaped their own understanding of the world around them.
ACSA Website, 2021
Over the last few weeks, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, architecture school faculty and st... more Over the last few weeks, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, architecture school faculty and students from across the globe have been putting their skills to work creating masks and face shields to help support #OperationPPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and the #MillionMaskChallenge. Partnerships have formed, and continue to form, rapidly to respond to the growing need for protective gear.
In the Pivot to Online Learning discussion on April 3, entitled “Schools Respond to a Pandemic”, José Gámez, a Professor of Architecture at UNCC, invited his colleagues to talk about the quick partnerships formed with local makers and hospitals to complete the production of now over 30,000 face shields for a local hospital. After the discussion, we reached out to Alex Cabrel, Director of Fabrication at UNCC, who told us more about the creation of CharlotteMEDI (more information below). This program helped create the aforementioned face shields and they were able to use injection molding to produce headbands more efficiently. Across the nation, from Alvin Huang at USC to Jenny Sabin at Cornell, professors are also organizing massive collaborative efforts to support this need.
Abstract The spatial territories and social networks within which Latinx immigrant populations ... more Abstract
The spatial territories and social networks within which Latinx immigrant populations live and work in the South offers robust opportunities to explore new hybrid models of spatial practices and identities. By contrast, long established Latino neighborhoods such as those in Boyle Heights or East Los Angeles, which are what James Rojas has called “enacted landscapes”, now feel the pressures of gentrification—pressures that threaten previously hybridized urban spaces with mainstream homogenization. These student essays highlight “(t)he strands that interlace race, ethnicity, and place in the South” and in the west that “are being woven into something new and potentially different through Latino migration” in Charlotte, NC.
In case you missed this, WSOC interviewed Summer Anderson (one of my students from the fall and s... more In case you missed this, WSOC interviewed Summer Anderson (one of my students from the fall and spring) about the work that we are doing with U Bahamas, FAMU and One Eleuthera Foundation. A few minor details got mixed up in the story but overall it seems pretty good.
It doesn't look like they're posted the story on their website yet but it came up in the UNCC media mentions report this morning: https://app2.cision.com/
Our story starts up just after the Greg Olsen story finishes.
We are working on an edited companion to this studio portfolio, which should be out sometime in l... more We are working on an edited companion to this studio portfolio, which should be out sometime in late 2019. This studio book is nearly complete but here is a preview.
Our work with the LAC is about to take another big step!