About rainforest

Born in Cuba and raised in Venezuela, Mariel Masque (a.k.a. Maria Masque) is a creative and non-fiction writer, an artist, a poet, a storyteller, a folklorist, and an urban planner/urban designer interested is social and environmental justice. With a BA in Anthropology, a MA in Urban and Regional Planning and her talent for community consensus building and insightful analysis, Mariel approaches her projects with creativity and imagination. Over twenty years of experience in planning and urban design and a life filled with rich noetic experiences feed her knowing of sustainable principles and best practices and her heartfelt environmental and social equity ethics. With bilingual capabilities and demonstrated success navigating complex political climates, Mariel is The Planning Center Principal of Community and Regional Planning in Tucson, Arizona.

Mariel’s Zen approach to planning allows her to partner with communities to formulate successful outreach efforts, moderate high profile public engagement programs, and help identify the funds necessary for those communities to walk their vision. She believes in empowerment through education and networking and works with a wide diversity of people.

Some of her recent work includes: The Solar Zone Master Plan at the University of Science and Technology Park; City of El Mirage General Plan, the first fully sustainable plan in the State of Arizona, winner of the Valley Forward Environmental Excellence Merit Award 2010; The City of Nogales General Plan 2011, the first general plan prepared in collaboration with both sides of the U.S./Mexico border; the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park Master Plan; and the University of Arizona BioPark Master Plan. She is currently assisting the Navajo Nation in the preparation of the Kayenta General Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Both documents include green best practices.

She is interested in dream work, extended human capacities, mind-matter interaction, worldview literacy, worldview transformation and the continuous expansion of individual awareness. Mariel embraces a practice of inner peace, compassion, generosity, empathy, forgiveness, joy and unconditional love and feels that these are essential for individual and collective healing.