Daniel Otero Peña was awarded the 2026 HERA Doctoral Thesis Award for his doctoral thesis, “The Spatial Dimension of Urban Metabolism: Resource Flows, Public Space, and Vulnerable Communities”. The award concerns research connecting urban resource flows, spatial analysis, public space and environmental justice across Mexico City, Brussels and Caracas.

The thesis combines quantitative mapping with socio-ecological practices and design translation. In Mexico City, the work identifies resource and infrastructure patterns through GIS; in Brussels, it examines community-based resource governance and belonging; and in Caracas, it converts the combined evidence into urban archetypes for planning and design.

Daniela Perrotti supervised the doctoral research with Pierre Vanderstraeten. The award highlights the contribution of the doctoral thesis to spatial urban-metabolism research, environmental justice and practical urban transformation.