Juan Carlos Vargas

Juan Carlos Vargas is the founder and managing principal of GeoAdaptive LLC – a global territorial sustainability-consulting group with offices in Boston, Torino, Italy and Santiago, Chile and with engagements in over 22 countries worldwide. Dr. Vargas’s work focuses on the analysis and strategic planning of rapidly changing territories. Dr. Vargas and his team have pioneered technologies and interdisciplinary approaches that incorporate scientific and community forms of knowledge using spatial scenarios. Their work has assisted policy makers and international development organizations across environmental and conservation sectors, social inclusion, infrastructure and climate change. Before GeoAdaptive—this native from Costa Rica—was a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a research scientist and lecturer at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also served as Assistant Director of MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative where he directed numerous federal research projects and graduate-level courses in territorial planning, geospatial technologies and sustainability.

Dr. Vargas holds a Diploma in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of Costa Rica, and obtained his Masters and Doctoral degrees from Harvard University. He is an alumnus of the Sustainability Science Program Graduate Fellowship from the Center for International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and developed his postdoctoral research at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning.  He serves as a Board Member of the United States Landscape Conservation Council, and as an Entrepreneur-in-Resident (EiR) at the Harvard University Innovation Labs. Dr. Vargas has been visiting faculty and lecturer at universities in Europe, Asia, North and South America.