Verónica Rosales

El Paso, Texas

AFFILIATION:  Chief Urban Planner, Planning, Research and Development Department, City of El Paso

AREA OF EXPERTISE: Urban planning, border issues, neighborhood revitalization, transportation planning 

BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE:  Verónica is an urban planner with a long-time interest in urban poverty and community empowerment.  She came to planning via public housing issues after writing her senior thesis in college on a HUD demonstration program.  Verónica has worked in the nonprofit and public sectors at the federal and local level in Washington, D.C., New York City and in her hometown of El Paso. Verónica is an advocate of open government and citizen participation and has helped to develop mechanisms for active citizen participation through neighborhood associations in El Paso. She worked on the city’s first neighborhood plan and from that work helped to establish the municipal Neighborhood Planning program.  She directly supervises the city’s five neighborhood planners as the chief urban planner in charge of the Long Range and Neighborhood Planning Division of the Planning, Research and Development Department in El Paso. In her voluntary endeavors, she promotes the practice of  planning through her work with the local section of the American Planning Association (APA).  She serves as the Professional Development Officer for the Texas APA Chapter where she promotes the planning profession, training for appointed and elected officials and continuing education for planning practitioners. 

RESEARCH INTEREST:  Verónica is interested in improving public participation in municipal governance and neighborhood revitalization. She is also concerned with redevelopment issues including infill and downtown redevelopment and the relationship between public health and the built environment. Her research will explore these issues.

E-MAIL: RosalesVX@elpasotexas.gov