معرفی
Tiago Castela is a historian of architecture and urbanism, and an architect at the University of Coimbra, where he serves as a researcher and invited assistant professor in the Department of Architecture. He is affiliated with the Center for Social Studies (CES) and teaches doctoral seminars at the Faculty of Economics. He is also a member of the faculty of the College of Arts.
His educational background includes a PhD in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley (2011), with a focus on the History of Architecture and Urbanism in Europe and its colonies (1850-2000), and a professional degree in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon.
Castela's research examines processes of architectural and urban creation by diverse agents, exploring how these processes both influence and are influenced by architectural theory. His main areas of interest include:
- History of Architecture and Urbanism
- Colonial and Post-Colonial Urban Studies
- Housing Politics and Policy
- Spatial Theory and Urban Geography
- Peripheral Urbanism in Lusophone Countries
His recent publications reveal a strong focus on wartime villagization in Portuguese colonies, particularly examining how colonial powers used spatial organization as a tool of control during liberation wars. His work also explores the legacy of these practices in contemporary urban development and housing policies in post-colonial contexts.
Castela has received several prestigious awards including:
- First prize in the 2004 international architectural competition for the administrative center of the autonomous community of Extremadura, in Mérida, Spain
- Multiple research grants from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)
- Membership on the Advisory Board of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE) since 2021
He currently supervises 8 PhD students as main supervisor and 7 as co-supervisor. His documentary "Urban Aspirations" (2016) was selected for the "Film Geographies" collection associated with the American Association of Geographers. He has coordinated several significant research projects, including "Regulating the Colonial Rural: Wartime Villagization in Late Portuguese Colonialism" and "Urban Aspirations in Colonial/Post-Colonial Mozambique," both funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).