Our team.

Prof. Alberto de Salvatierra

Founder and Director

Alberto de Salvatierra is Founder and Director of the Center for Civilization (CFC) and Associate Professor of Urbanism and Data in Architecture at the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL). He is also Founding Principal of PROXIIMA and a former Global Shaper at the Las Vegas and Calgary Hubs of the Global Shapers Community—an initiative by the World Economic Forum based in Geneva, Switzerland.

A transdisciplinary polymath, designer, and urbanist, Alberto’s research and work is organized around the pursuit of six simultaneous streams of inquiry—intersections between the city and morphology, ecology, pedagogy, technology, mythology, and civilization. Projects within each stream additionally deploy cross-fertilized research methodologies as appropriate. The Civic Commons Catalyst Initiative, the CFC’s flagship project, combines sociology (through interviews), future studies (through horizon scanning), human geography (through geospatial data analysis), public policy, finance innovation, and urban design. Since arriving to Calgary in 2020, Alberto has secured, as Principal Investigator, over 1 million dollars in grant funding, including direct funding sponsorships by Alberta municipalities, industry partners, community associations and non-profit organizations.

His work has been published widely and exhibited both domestically and abroad, such as in Australia, Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Mexico, Italy, Japan, Sweden and Serbia, and in such venues as the Priscilla Fowler Fine Art Gallery in Las Vegas, Nevada; the Calatrava-designed Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Previously, he’s been part of the Harvard Kennedy School’s inaugural STS (Science, Technology and Society) program on Expertise, Trust and Democracy, and an invited panelist and delegate to the United Nations.

Alberto is the past recipient of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Local Pathways Fellowship, Cornell’s Robert James Eidlitz Fellowship, Harvard Library’s inaugural May Crane Fellowship, and Harvard GSD’s Penny White Prize. He has previously taught at Cornell University, the Boston Architectural College, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City), and the UNLV School of Architecture.

Alberto holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and both a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Master of Design Studies in Urbanism, Landscape and Ecology from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Ji Song Sun

Research Fellow

Ji Song Sun is a Research Fellow at the Center for Civilization and an Intern Architect at Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) Architects (Vancouver office).

As an avid designer and architect-in-training, Ji Song’s interests in the field trace their genesis to the latent opportunities for adaptive re-use in the built environment. This examination of potential, often mediated and effectuated through innovative creativity and bold design strategies, drives his work. To practice his interests, Ji Song has assembled and led interdisciplinary teams—called 4Studio and The Collabo—to participate in 25 different design competitions over the last 10 years.

Ji Song has previously worked as an Architect Student Intern in Edmonton, and a Graduate Assistant, Research (GAR) for both the 9 Block Canopy Project and the Center for Civilization at the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL). He was won scholarships totalling $22,000, including the University of Calgary SAPL Scholarship. In 2019, he won First Place in the Ottawa Capital Riverfront Challenge Competition, Parkdale node. In 2021, Ji Song won the Alberta Association of Architects’ (AAA) President’s Medal—awarded annually to a graduating student from the University of Calgary who, in the judgement of their faculties, has achieved the highest level of academic excellence.

Ji Song holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies and Mathematics, with honors, from the University of Toronto and a Master of Architecture from the University of Calgary.