José Luis Cortés is the UIA President for the 2021-2023 term. He is a graduate of the Monterrey Institute of Technology, Mexico with post-graduate degrees in urban planning from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. Mr. Cortés formerly served as President of the Federation of Colleges of Architects of the Mexican Republic (FCARM) from 2017 to 2018 as well as UIA Region III Vice-President and Council Member.
He taught urban planning at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Campus Xochimilc and headed the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Iberoamerica in Mexico City, Mexico. A visiting professor in India, Japan and Sweden, he has carried out architectural and urban planning projects for many historic city centres and has authored numerous publications on housing and urban planning. He has received official honours from the governments of Spain and Japan.