Carlos Molinero is a researcher in urban science. His formal studies have developed in Madrid, Chicago and London. He holds a degree and masters in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM), at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and a MRes. and PhD in computer science from the School of Computer Science of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM).

Carlos worked as an architect in Chicago, Madrid and Paris in several studios before joining the UCM as a researcher in the computer science field for several years. The work undertaken during this period was around the application of artificial intelligence techniques to the field of testing and the formal specification of hierarchical agent systems. He then joined the Space Group at the University College of London (UCL) to undertake research in the analysis and generation of urban networks.

The focus of Carlos’ research shifted towards the analysis and understanding of urban systems from the perspective of complexity science at his start at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at UCL, where he continues to be an honorary researcher. His research interests lay in the understanding of cities as evolving systems: How can, from the aggregation of temporally and culturally situated decisions, emerge another level of order with its own set of rules which can be uncovered by the study of its network as a complex system? The aim of his work is to better predict urban processes such as transport, movement and retail locations, or to gain insights into the distribution of city sizes and the mechanisms that determine their growth.