Ignacio Aravena Gonzalez

Ignacio Aravena Gonzalez is an LSE Fellow in Real Estate Economics and Finance at the London School of Economics and Political Science's Department of Geography and Environment. He also serves as Deputy Director of the MSc in Real Estate Economics and Finance program. Originally from Chile, he maintains strong connections to his home country through policy work with the Piensa Foundation.

His educational background includes a Master's degree in Urban Planning from New York University, a Master's degree in Real Estate from Universidad de Chile, and a Bachelor's and Professional Degree in Construction Engineering. His expertise spans real estate markets, spatial analysis, affordable housing policy, and program evaluation.

Aravena's research focuses on the intersection of urban regulation, real estate markets, and neighborhood dynamics, with particular emphasis on causal inference methods applied to housing policy. His current projects examine land use policy impacts on affordable housing production, effects of Chilean social unrest on real estate markets, and spatial data science applications in informal settlements.

His work demonstrates a strong connection between academic research and practical policy applications, as evidenced by his regular opinion columns in Chilean media outlets including La Tercera and CNN Chile. His recent publications address critical urban planning challenges including territorial organization, housing shortages, and regulatory frameworks for sustainable city development.

As an educator and researcher, Aravena brings technical proficiency in spatial analysis tools including R Studio, Python, Stata, ArcGis, and QGis to his work examining urban development challenges in both Chilean and international contexts.