Javier Arpa Fernandez

Javier Arpa Fernández is an academic in architecture and urbanism, as well as an author, curator, and researcher. He holds a Master of Science in Architecture from Delft University of Technology, specializing in urban design, research, and dissemination.



Currently, Javier is the Head of the “Building Audiences” Group, a newly established lab, and the Curator of Public Programs at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology. Previously, he served as the Research and Education Coordinator at The Why Factory, a global think tank and research institute within the same faculty. Javier also held the position of Editor-in-Chief at MVRDV and was the Deputy Editor of Domus magazine in Milan, Italy, in 2019.



Javier has taught at institutions such as Harvard, Columbia GSAPP, and Penn Universities in the United States, ENSA-Bellevile and ENSA-Versailles in France, and IE University in Spain.



He curated the exhibition “Paris Habitat” in 2015 at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris and authored the monograph “Paris Habitat: One Hundred Years of City, One Hundred Years of Life.” In 2013, he co-organized the conference “The City That Never Was” in collaboration with the Architectural League of New York. Javier is currently conducting the research project “Africa: An Atlas of Speculative Urbanization” at the University of Pennsylvania. He co-curated the exhibition “African Speculations” at the Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival in July 2017, Architekturgalerie München in 2018, and Politecnico di Milano in February 2019.



Additionally, Javier was the Editor-in-Chief for a+t research group, one of Europe’s leading publishers in architecture and urban design, where he co-authored the “Density,” “Hybrids,” “In Common,” “Civilities,” and “Strategies” series.

WEBSITE