Ana Builes
@upb.edu.co
Associate Professor, Architecture and Design School, Faculty of Clothing Design
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
Product Design Engineer from Universidad EAFIT, Medellín. Master in Design, management and execution of projects. Associate professor at the Faculty of Costume Design, School of Architecture and Design, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín. She leads the study group Fashion, city and economy. Her work has focused on urban development through social innovation, sustainable development and multiple social, cultural and economic impacts of urban transformations in the city of Medellin, Colombia.
EDUCATION
Product Design Engineer
Master in Project Management
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Multidisciplinary, Multidisciplinary, Language and Linguistics, Literature and Literary Theory
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Ana Elena Builes-Vélez, Lina María Escobar, and Claudia Villamil-Mejia
MDPI AG
Creative and innovation districts are focused on boosting local economies. However, they also pay attention to the global scale since this local identity of the Orange Economies gives them added value and competitiveness globally, as well as international projection and visibility of products, services, and new technologies associated with creativity and innovation. Thus, this study reviews three case studies of the cities of Barranquilla, Bogota, and Medellin in Colombia, seeking to characterize the creative and innovation districts. The methodology used is strictly qualitative, resorting to the characterization of the polygons and the analysis of public policies. This study describes the general aspects of creative and innovation districts in Colombia. Then, it identifies the forces for CD and ID development in three Colombian cities and the drivers for urban sustainable transformation. The main purpose of this study is to understand if innovation and creative districts are new scenarios for sustainable urban planning.
Ana Elena Builes-Vélez, Juliana Restrepo, and Juan Diego Diego Martínez
Emerald
Purpose This paper aims to identify how the faculties of a Colombian University have understood the concept of sustainability and the way they have embedded it into their training. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative research was done using documentary and content analysis which allowed researchers to recognize features correlated to sustainability which are needed to promote and act for social equity, ecological care and economic development. Findings It was found that most faculties at the university do not conceptualize it; ergo, courses are designed neither for promoting sustainability nor sustainable education. Besides this, almost no level of integration was identified among faculties on this topic. Research limitations/implications Many people agree education for sustainability is a key action to overcome the complex challenges the planet is facing; nevertheless, the prejudice that training to solve sustainability problems is an exclusive task of certain disciplines is common. This misunderstanding reduces the possibilities of pursuing a sustainable future, considering that these issues affect all humankind and that they can only be solved through interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Practical implications The paper also outlines some actions that Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) can take to consider sustainability issues, and they are as follows: identification of competencies to include in the curricula; recognition of the potential of integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) into the curricula by strengthening the competencies and capacities; strengthening the competencies and capacities of the academic staff through ESD training processes; articulation of research with the curricula in such a way that the results of research processes permeate the curricula. Social implications This study has some limitations. For instance, regarding the survey, the size of the sample may seem too small, a bigger sample will allow better information for the results. Regarding the case studies, a greater diversity of programs could have provided a wider range of results. Despite these limitations, for UPB, the study shows a snapshot of the literature review and the articulation of sustainable development and climate change education (CCE) in all programs the university has. The implications of this paper and research are the following. First, it reiterates the importance of having within the same institution a common language to talk about sustainability. Second, it recognizes the competencies and skills that should considered when implementing ESD and CCE in curricula. Originality/value This idea corresponds to a lack of debate about what the term signifies and means. It is believed that, as sustainability has been highly researched in the past two decades, it is a cross-cutting element in any faculty proposal; however, due to the complexity of the term, it is understood differently by each member of the same academic community, affecting their ability to design a systemic and systematic curriculum that enables to educate for sustainable goals.
Ana Elena Builes-Vélez, Juliana Restrepo Jaramillo, Natalia Pérez-Orrego, and Lina María Suárez-Vásquez
Springer Nature Switzerland
Ana Elena Builes-Vélez, Lina María Suárez Vásquez, Leonardo Correa Velásquez, and Diana Carolina Gutiérrez Aristizábal
SAGE Publications
In recent years, urban design development has been an important topic in Latin American cities such as Medellín due to the transformation of their urban spaces, along with the new methods used to evaluate the social, morphological, and, in some cases, economic impacts that have been brought about by the urban development projects. When inquiring about the development process and impact of urban studies, and the inhabitants’ relation to a transformed space, it is important to establish the context within which images, drawings, and photographs are analyzed, using graphical approaches triangulated with other research methods to define comparative criteria. In this article, we reflect on the expanded use of various research tools for the analysis of urban transformation, taking with reference the experience lived by a group of researchers in two Latin American cities. From this, it is intended to understand how they work and how they allow us to understand the urban transformation of these cities, the data obtained, and the vision of the researchers.
Ana Elena Builes Vélez and Paula Andrea Zapata Ramírez
Springer International Publishing