As the regional planning coordinator for the Quisqueya Binational Economic Council, Shaney Peña-Gómez coordinates the large-scale economic and urban development of the border region between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This binational endeavor stemmed out of Shearly Initiative-an urban office that develops innovative strategies for land stewardship in the Dominican Republic and the region-where Peña-Gómez is manager of the Planning Unit. This office has been committed in a wide range of projects from designing public spaces for the city and promoting the film industry to executing a set of interventions in the historical district of Santo Domingo.
Peña-Gómez is interested in projects where she partners with the public and private sectors and academic institutions. Within this framework, she developed the Green Santo Domingo Plan, sustainability ordinances for the capital city, and the National Network of Ecological Parks, promoting land use conservation and parks creation. As part of this network, she designed a binational park between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and coedited a book tackling the issue of green infrastructure development.
Peña-Gómez lives and works from Santo Domingo, the largest city of the Caribbean Archipelago, where she conducts her professional practice as well as regional collaborations and academic appointments. Her Loeb year is aimed at advancing knowledge regarding binational border regions as possible new urban models and the intersection between green infrastructure financing, open space creation, and new city densities.
