Roy Barreras

Biography:

Roy's research examines how Latin American cities design, adopt, and implement local climate mitigation policy, with particular attention to the institutional and governance factors that shape how ambitious those policies actually are. He examines climate action planning from several angles: the institutional and political-economy barriers that explain divergent levels of policy ambition across cities; whether adopted mitigation measures genuinely reduce demand for carbon-intensive goods and services; and how sectoral policies and public-private partnerships function as tools for urban climate mitigation. Across this work, he draws on his own background as a subnational government executive in Colombia to connect academic climate planning scholarship to the practical institutional realities facing municipal and regional governments in Latin America and the broader Global South.

By exploring enabling conditions for ambitious climate policy adoption, his research aims to inform climate planning decision-making processes and institutions both within the region and in comparable rapidly-urbanizing cities elsewhere in the Global South."

Research Interests/Specializations

• Subnational climate governance
• Climate adaptation and resilience
• Urban and regional planning 
• Land-use policy and territorial development
• Multilateral and public-sector institutional governance

On/Off-Campus Job

Urban Planning/Environmental Planning consultant

Extracurricular Involvement

• Founding Board Member, Fundación Ciudades Sostenibles 
• Member, Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA)
• Member, American Planning Association (APA)
• Member, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP)
• Member, International City/County Management Association (ICMA)

Career Ambitions

Roy aims to contribute at the intersection of climate mitigation and adaptation policy, urban governance, and multilateral strategy — building on his experience in subnational government and multilateral development institutions — toward roles that connect international climate finance and knowledge to the subnational governments that implement actions.

Education

• Universidad del Rosario, Master in Urban Development and Law, 2023
• Georgetown University, Executive Master in Policy Leadership, 2022
• Universidad Externado de Colombia, Graduate Diploma in Public Law, 2014
• Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, B.Sc. in Political Science, 2011