Vicente del Rio is an architect with a graduate diploma in Urban and

Vicente del Rio is an architect with a graduate diploma in Urban and Regional Planning (State
University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), a Master’s in Urban Design (Oxford Polytechnic), and a Ph.D. in
Architecture and Urbanism (University of São Paulo, Brazil). Since September 2001, he teaches in the
City and Regional Planning Department, California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, where he is
a full professor.
From 1979 to 2001 he taught at the school of of Architecture and Urbanism, Federal University of Rio
de Janeiro, where he was a full professor and served as vice-director and graduate coordinator. He
was visiting professor and has lectured in several occasions in universities in the US, England,
Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. He was a Senior International Fellow at Johns Hopkins
University (1984) and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Urban Design, University of Cincinnati
(1992/3). From 2005-2008 he has been a visiting professor at the masters program in urbanism,
Universidade Lusofona in Lisbon, Portugal.
Vicente has a long professional experience in physical planning and urban design. From 1979 to 1985
he worked at Rio de Janeiro’s State Foundation for Metropolitan Planning, and in 1986 he worked at
the Secretaria de Urbanismo, city of Rio de Janeiro. From August to December 1984, as a visiting
urban designer at the City of Baltimore he was responsible for the urban design revitalization project
for Fells Point Waterfront. He left his public job in 1986 to dedicate full time to teaching and private
consultancy. He was an associate and/or consultant to various urban design projects in firms in Brazil
--such as Coutinho-Diegues-Cordeiro, and Mayerhofer & Toledo, both in Rio de Janeiro.
Some of these projects were developed in conjunction with The SWA Group in the U.S. Some projects
he has participated in are: Lagoa dos Ingleses New Community ( 3,500 hectares, Nova Lima), Jacuhi
and Sarue new communities (400 and 350 hectares, Serra, Brazil), Cidade Alta new community (400
hectares, Juiz de Fora), a development plan and conceptual design for an eco-tourism costal resort
(1,000 hectares, Paraty), the Environmental Management Master Plan for the Watershed Area of the
Sepetiba Bay (Rio de Janeiro State), and the Rio Cidade urban design plans for Méier, Avenida
Suburbana, and Largo do Bicao (Rio de Janeiro). Since he moved to the US in 2001 he has developed
the Grover Beach Façade Enhancement Plan and the Traver Participatory Concept Plan through Cal
Poly’s Foundation. He is an allied professional to R2L, San Luis Obispo.