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Urban Planning and Public Policy Faculty

Dominic J. Bednar

Headshot of Dominic J. Bednar
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy
Ph.D. University of Michigan
(949) 824-0563
206D Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Energy and environmental justice; just transition; energy efficiency; public policy and program analysis; spatial analysis; race/ethnicity; community organizing and development; mobility

Ajay Garde

Headshot of Ajay Garde
Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Director, Master of Urban and Regional Planning
Ph.D. University of Southern California
(949) 824-0563
212D Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Urban design, sustainable design and development, urban built form, spatial and social inequality, affordable housing, public participation and urban design, land use regulations, non-behavioral issues in urban design
Faculty website:

Jessica Garrison

Assistant Professor of Teaching of Urban Planning and Public Policy
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(949) 824-0563
232A Social Ecology I
Specializations:
Environmental justice, climate adaptation, geographic information systems, spatial analysis
Faculty website:

Douglas Houston

Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy

Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
(949) 824-0563
212E Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Transportation, air pollution, urban inequality, environmental equity, spatial analysis
Faculty website:

Hun Kee Kim

Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy

Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
(949) 824-0563
218G Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Urban social-spatial transformation, late-socialist, postsocialist and authoritarian regimes, globalization, infrastructure, real estate, development theory and practice, governance
Faculty website:

Jae Hong Kim

Headshot of Jae Hong Kim
Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Director, PhD Program
Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(949) 824-0563
206E Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Regional economic development, land use, economic–physical development nexus, location choice, urban system modeling
Faculty website:

Nicholas J. Marantz

Headshot of Nicholas J. Marantz
Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; School of Law
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology; J.D. Harvard Law School
(949) 824-0563
206C Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Land-use and environmental law, public-private programs, community development, local government, political participation
Faculty website:

Mukul Kumar

Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
949-824-0563
218D Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Climate justice, energy and environment, political ecology, social movements, global urbanism
Faculty website:

Richard Matthew

Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Political Science; Director, Center for Unconventional Security Affairs and Blum Center for Global Engagement

Ph.D. Princeton University
(949) 824-9670
212C Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Environment, conflict and peacebuilding; transnational threat networks; international ethics
Faculty website:

Michael Méndez

Headshot of Michael Méndez
Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
(949) 824-0563
226D Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Climate change, environmental justice, environmental studies, sustainability, urban planning
Faculty website:

Walter Nicholls

Headshot of Walter Nicholls
Department Chair, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Sociology; Director, UCI Labor Center
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
(949) 824-4384
300G Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Urban sociology, politics and policy, social movements, immigration, comparative urbanism, theory, planning conflicts
Faculty website:

Virginia Parks

Headshot of Virginia Parks
Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
(949) 824-0563
218G Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Urban inequality, urban labor markets, labor, community organizing and development, racial inequality, immigration
Faculty website:

Seth Pipkin

Headshot of Seth Pipkin
Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(949) 824-0563
218E Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Economic development, Latin America, U.S.-Mexico border, political economy, economic sociology, group learning, labor
Faculty website:

María G. Rendón

Headshot of María G. Rendón
Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Sociology
Ph.D. Harvard University
(949) 824-0563
212B Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Urban inequality, immigration, race/ethnicity, youth violence, sociology of education and social policy
Faculty website:

L. Alejandra Reyes R.C.

Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy
Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin
(949) 824-0563
232C Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Housing policy, urban governance, civic engagement, Mexican urban development, financialization
Faculty website:

Nícola Ulibarrí

Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Director, MPP Program

Ph.D. Stanford University
(949) 824-0563
206B Social Ecology 1
Specializations:
Environmental planning and policy, water resources management, collaborative governance
Faculty website:
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