Penelope Plaza

Penelope Plaza is a Lecturer in Architecture and Joint Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Reading. Her role includes PhD supervision, undergraduate dissertation guidance, and module convenorship in architectural design and critical writing. She holds a PhD in Cultural Policy and Management from City University of London, an MPhil in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge, and a Master of Architecture from Universidad Simón Bolívar (Venezuela).

Research Interests: Plaza investigates the intersections of oil, politics, culture, and urban space, focusing on petro-cultures, urban activism, and the socio-political dimensions of public space. Her work critiques the Venezuelan petro-state’s instrumentalization of culture and urban space, particularly through the lens of PDVSA’s cultural campaigns and grassroots resistance movements.

Awards & Recognition: Special Commendation in the Royal Geographical Society’s Political Geography Research Group Book Award (2020), and shortlisted for the same award (2019). Her book Culture as Renewable Oil (2018) explores the coalescence of oil, bureaucracy, and culture in Venezuela.

Grants & Initiatives: Co-Investigator in the NERC-funded Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for Latin America and the Caribbean project. Recipient of a £18,000 British Council Digital Fund grant for the Creating a Digital CCSen365 project, exploring Caracas’ architectural heritage via mobile technology. Past grants include a European Union-funded Busca tu Espacio initiative (€300,000).

Labs & Collaborations: Member of the Petrocultures Research Group and After Oil 3 collective. Collaborates with organizations like Collectivox (urban activism) and Ser Urbano (playful protest initiatives).