Antonio Gómez-Palacio
Antonio Gomez-Palacio, is a founding partner of DIALOG, one of Canada’s leading design firms.
He is internationally recognized for transforming cities into vibrant urban places, which respond to their social, economic, environmental, and political context. Grounded on both a participatory and an evidence-based approach, his work is credited with meaningfully improving the wellbeing of communities.
Antonio has worked on a wide range of projects focused on urban intensification, master planning, mixed-use, transit, heritage, economic development, and sustainability.
Antonio has acted as the Chair of the Toronto Society of Architects and Vaughan’s Design Review Panel and is involved with a number of industry initiatives and organizations including the Canadian Institute of Planners, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (of which he was names a Fellow this year), and the Canadian Urban Transit Association. He is currently leading multi-sectoral research on the link between built environments and Community Wellbeing.
Community Wellbeing: an emerging framework for architecture, planning, design, engineering.
Fundamentally, this is about shifting the paradigm of the built environment to be about meaningfully improving the wellbeing of communities and natural systems – defined as “the combination of social, economic, environmental, cultural, and political conditions identified by individuals and their communities as essential for them to flourish and fulfill their potential”. DIALOG, a firm of design professionals, teamed up with the Conference Board of Canada and others to undertake a multi-year research initiative that resulted in a robust methodology and set of indicators, published for all to use feely. The intent, is for communities, designers, city-builders to make better, evidence-based decision, that serve to enhance healthy lifestyles, mental health, social wellbeing, and the health of natural systems. By doing so, it builds capacity and enables community members to make a positive impact, and be proactive about their wellbeing.