José began his professional career in urban design/architectural with several studies and projects in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca. In 2008 he created his own firm “DOSA Estudio”. That same year he moved to northwestern Mexico to live amongst an indigenous community in the Sierra Tarahumara. There, among other things, he carried out environmental management projects including water catchment. He also developed some smaller scale design projects in Mexico City. After his experience in Mexico, he returned to Ecuador and joined the Ministry of Urban Development (MIDUVI) where he was responsible for large-scale urban projects and city management, including the new Land use and urban law. He first assumed a role as ministerial adviser and to later become the Undersecretary of Habitat and Human Settlements and Director of Land Valuation and Cadaster at the same Ministry. He is currently he engage in teaching, urban research at different universities, and develops projects and studies at his own firm.

José Toral graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAUC) at the University of Cuenca. He also holds a master degree in “Architectural Theory and Praxis” from the Polytechnic University in Barcelona, Spain. José has also been an associate professor at FAUC, professor of architectural design at University of San Francisco (USFQ) and of sustainability policies and urban morphology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE). In 2008 he got an honorable mention at the Quito Biennial for his thesis “A library according to Borges”.