Mariana Alegre Escorza

Visiting Scholar, Weatherhead Scholars Program
Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Founder and executive director, Sistema Urbano
Headshot of Mariana Alegre.
61 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Mariana Alegre Escorza is a tenured professor at the Business School of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and a Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Additionally, she is the founder and executive director of Sistema Urbano, a Latin American urban innovation ecosystem that bridges research, policy, and practice through data, participation, and collaborative action. Her academic work focuses on urbanism, citizenship, and the right to the city, with teaching experience across architecture, law, and management. She has authored and advised research on public space, mobility justice, inequality, and risk management. She currently serves on an ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, contributing to the Roadmap for Transformative Action to Achieve Health for All at Net-Zero Emissions.

Research Interests: Urban disobedience; social movements; spatial justice; and how collective action challenges and shapes formal planning systems.