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, he was President of the Federation of Colleges of Architects of the Mexican Republic - FCARM (2017-18).

He taught urban planning at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Campus Xochimilc and at the University of Iberoamerica, where he headed the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. 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.

José-Luis Cortés Delgado has participated in the coordination of multiple urban design and development projects, among them a World Bank project analysing the major problems of the cities in Mexico, relating to questions of the environment, water, urban development, security, viability and transport. He took an active part in planning processes for the restoration of cities such as Oaxaca, San Miguel de Allende and master plans for the creation of national parks and the sustainable development of urban zones.