Rate My Professor Gabriel Diaz Montemayor

Gabriel Diaz Montemayor is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he joined the faculty in August 2019. He serves as Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Montemayor holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Auburn University, earned in 2007, and an Architect degree from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico, having graduated from the Superior Institute of Architecture and Design in 1998. Before arriving at the University of Arkansas, he was an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. In 2002, he co-founded LABOR Studio, an architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture practice based in Chihuahua, Mexico. Through LABOR Studio, he directed projects including the Polyvalent Linear Park in Chihuahua City from 2012 to 2017, the All Ages Park in Chihuahua City in 2009, Libertad Street Pedestrian District Extension from 2020 to 2021, and public space recovery and crime prevention initiatives in northern Mexico cities from 2017 to 2018. Other works encompass the Metropolitan Park Landscape Design in Hermosillo from 2017 to 2018, Botanical Garden in Chihuahua City in 2011, and various master plans and urban design guidelines.

Montemayor's research specializations encompass urban and environmental regeneration in Mexican cities, the role of public space in community building within subsidized housing amid crime and violence crises, green infrastructure policy in U.S.-Mexico border cities like Ambos Nogales, and hybrid green corridors balancing ecological restoration with non-motorized mobility in arid northern Mexico. He has led research and service studios at the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School, University of Texas at Austin, and Arizona State University, exploring sites such as the Lower Rio Grande-Bravo Delta, Yucatan Coast, Hermosillo Green Corridors, and Chuviscar River. Key publications include "Recovering subsidized housing developments in Northern México: The critical role of public space in community building in the context of a crime and violence crisis" (2019), "Pathways to greening border cities: a policy analysis for green infrastructure in Ambos Nogales" (2023), "Urban and environmental regeneration in Mexican cities: a design framework" (2022), "Hybrid green corridors in arid northern Mexico: Design for a balance between ecological and non-motorized mobility networks" (2016), and "Balancing Access and Regenerating Habitats: Towards a Socio-Ecological Integration in the Rio Grande/Río Bravo Delta" (2025). An American Society of Landscape Architects member, he received awards from the Second and Third Latin American Landscape Architecture Biennials for University of Arkansas Community Design Center projects. Montemayor has participated in international competitions, served as an invited juror for the Jeff Harnar Awards, and delivered public lectures on Latin American landscape architecture.