Laura Groves is a recent graduate of Columbia University, GSAPP (Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation) in the programmes of historic preservation and urban planning. Over the past three years, she has traveled back and forth between New York City and Rio de Janeiro, completing her master’s degree and working with the Instituto Rio Patrimônio da Humanidade and Studio-X Rio. Her work in Rio was related to downtown city centre development and informal settlement-city integration through internships, a studio, workshops, and her more recent thesis research—which explores the potential role of preservation planning in a favela.