Chendi Zhang

Chendi Zhang (she/her/hers) is a doctoral student in Urban Planning at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research interests include age-friendly public space, participation and community engagement, urban design, smart city and technologies, and Urban China.

Prior to pursuing her PhD, Chendi was a landscape designer at OLIN, Philadelphia, assisted in curating Penn-China Design Dialogue 2019, worked on Beautiful China – Reflections on Landscape Architecture in Contemporary China as an assistant editor and book designer, and started to share tutorials about landscape architecture and her experience as an international student in design and planning major as a social media influencer.

Chendi studied and worked in the field of landscape architecture for ten years, holding her master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and bachelor’s degree of Science in Landscape Architecture from Beijing Forestry University. With her research concentration, practice experience, and design background, Chendi studies urban issues from a perspective of how planning and design processes can collaborate more tightly and efficiently to better respond to the demands of overlooked and misrepresented vulnerable groups and reduce spatial inequality in the built environment.

Website: chendizest.com

Brian Garcia

 Brian Garcia, PhD, AICP, is a Visiting Scholar at the UCLA Department of Urban Planning. Brian’s work focuses on climate adaptation in housing, land use and transport. Dr. Garcia is working on a book on social democratic urbanism in Europe and California. 

Dr. Garcia was previously Assistant Professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in urban and regional planning where he taught housing, urban design, social justice and international planning. Brian has taught urban regeneration, transport planning and been a studio critic in urban design at the Bartlett, University College London (UCL). 

Dr. Garcia has been a visiting researcher at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the Hong Kong University School of Social Work and Social Administration. He has advised the American Planning Association’s national policy guides on energy and smart growth. Brian has also been a Virtual Fellow for the United States Department of State. 

Brian is an urban designer with experience on large development projects in the United States, China, Hong Kong, India, Kazakhstan and Malaysia. In Los Angeles, Dr. Garcia has worked at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LAMetro) in Metro Art and Design as well as the Environmental Compliance and Sustainability Program. Prior to that, he worked as an architectural designer on a variety of projects including portions of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system and within the Executive Architect team for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture’s (OMA) Prada expansion. 

Dr. Garcia studied for his PhD at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London (UCL) and the Yale University School of Architecture. His field work took place in Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles and Medellin. Dr. Garcia’s PhD supervisor was Professor Sir Peter Hall. Brian holds degrees in architecture, art and urban planning. 

A native of Central California, Brian grew up aware of the importance of the environment and resource management. However, he was always fascinated with cities and their cultural institutions. These experiences motivated his interest in environmental policy and urban design. 

Recent Publications 

Garcia, B. (2021). Scanning for Cultural Competency in Online Urban Planning Programs. Urban Planning, 6(4), 273–282. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v6i4.4574 

Garcia, B. (Autumn 2020). Urban Design Review in the Creative Milieu Los Angeles, Urban Design Group Journal, London, UK. https://www.udg.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/files/UD156_magazine.pdf 

Garcia, B., Density and Demographics in Los Angeles Transit-Oriented Development. Cities in the 21st Century the International Seminar on Urban Form, Held Online, Sep 1-4, 2020. https://doi.org/10.26051/0D-SYDT-ZXP2 

http://www.brianpgarcia.com/ 

LinkedIn 

Google Scholar 

Carolyn Hull

Carolyn Hull works in areas of regional and urban planning, with an emphasis on economic and workforce development, industry cluster analysis, real estate financial modeling, and data-driven program development that focuses on equitable and sustainable outcomes tailored for each community. Ms. Hull is currently the General Manager for the Economic and Workforce Development Department for the City of Los Angeles. In her role as General Manager, she is charged with negotiating real estate transactions for redeveloping strategic city and privately-owned properties into commercial or industrial uses. Ms. Hull also develops, maintains, and coordinates programs designed to grow and improve Los Angeles’ economy while building a well-trained and job-ready workforce.

She was most recently the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Industry Cluster Development at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), where she oversaw strategies and programs to promote job creation, business investment, and workforce development initiatives to strengthen the alignment of LA County’s workforce and education systems with industry needs. In this role she also partnered with regional government agencies and non-profits to provide guidance in planning, negotiating, and implementing real estate and financing transactions to activate underutilized public assets for commercial and industrial uses to retain and expand Los Angeles’ living wage employment base.

Prior to joining LAEDC, Ms. Hull was the South Los Angeles Regional Administrator for the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA). In this role, she managed all redevelopment programs, activities and staff for the South Los Angeles region. During her tenure at CRA/LA, she served as the CRA/LA’s Manager of Capital Finance. In this capacity, she analyzed project-financing plans, and developed financing structures to optimize the utilization of public and private resources for all of CRA/LA’s priority projects. At the same time, she served as the co-founder and President of the Los Angeles Development Fund (LADF). Under her leadership, LADF received and managed a $75 million New Markets Tax Credit Allocation. In addition, she managed CRA/LA’s $700 million portfolio of conduit bonds.

Ms. Hull holds a Bachelor of science degree in industrial management from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Master of science degree in economics and urban planning from the London School of Economics, in addition to a Certificate in real estate finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Frederick Zimmerman

Frederick J. Zimmerman is an economist with a background in the political economy of health and social policy. His research illuminates the intersection of economics and the determinants of health.

Dr. Zimmerman has a particular interest in how economic structure—including poverty and inequality and housing markets—influence population health. Research topics have included the measurement of health equity; the effects of housing affordability on health; transportation and health; media use and child development; and the opportunity costs of medical spending.

Dr. Zimmerman’s work has integrated economic, sociological, and psychological perspectives of behavior into a multi-level theory that unifies both individual and population-level determinants of health. His current research is in the UCLA Center for Health Advancement, where he has developed measures to systematically track health equity over time and across jurisdictions. His Win-Win simulation model of the impact of health and social policy on population health has shown how high-school graduation rates, crime rates, and local government finances are affected by multi-sectoral interventions in several jurisdictions around the country.

The New York Times, NPR, the BBC, Radio France Internationale and many other media outlets have covered Dr. Zimmerman’s research.

Dr. Zimmerman teaches classes on Advanced Statistical Research Methods, Determinants of Health, and Public Health Ethics.

Selected Publications:

  • Frederick J. Zimmerman. Public Health and Autonomy: A Critical Reappraisal. Hastings Center Report. December, 2017.
  • Selena E. Ortiz, Frederick J. Zimmerman, Gary J. Adler. Increasing Public Support for Obesity Prevention Policies using the Taste-Engineering Frame and Consumer-Oriented Values. Social Science & Medicine. 156:142-153. May, 2016.Donglan Zhang, Philippe J. Giabbanelli, Onyebuchi Arah and Frederick J. Zimmerman. Impact of Different Policies on Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors in an Urban Adult Population: An Agent-based Simulation Model American Journal of Public Health 104(7): 1217-1222. July, 2014.
  • Zimmerman, Frederick J. “Habit, custom, and power: A multi-level theory of population health.” Social Science & Medicine 80 (2013): 47-56.
  • Jeffrey C. McCullough, Frederick J. Zimmerman, Jonathan E. Fielding and Steven M. Teutsch. A Health Dividend for America: The Opportunity Cost of Excess Medical Expenditures. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 43(6):650-654. December, 2012.
  • Åsa Ljungvall and Frederick J. Zimmerman. Long-term Time Trends and Disparities in Body-mass Index among U.S. Adults 1960–2008. Social Science & Medicine 75(1):109- 119. July, 2012.
  • Zimmerman FJ, Christakis DA, Meltzoff AN. Associations Between Media Viewing and Language Development Among Children Under 2 Years Old Journal of Pediatrics 2007 Oct;151(4):364-8.
  • Zimmerman FJ and Christakis DA. Children’s Television Viewing and Cognitive Outcomes: A Longitudinal Analysis of National Data. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 159(7):619-625. July, 2005.
  • Zimmerman FJ, Carter MR. Asset Smoothing, Consumption Smoothing and the Reproduction of Inequality under Risk and Subsistence Constraints. Journal of Development Economics 2003 (August) 71(2): 233-260.

Faye Nixon

Farre (“Faye”) Nixon (she/her) is a freelance designer and adjunct instructor residing in Los Angeles. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Urban Studies and Planning from MIT and dual Master degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design.

Her research interests include investigating speculative and critical design methodologies, using creative writing techniques such as worldbuilding as a design tool, interrogating the ways emerging technologies and design intersect, and designing for humans and their non-human counterparts within the context of uncertain climate futures. She was recently contracted as a Design Lead with Experimental Design, an agency specializing in the creation and visualization of narrative worlds, where she led a team of researchers, screenwriters, and producers to visualize a future in which a major European auto manufacturer transitioned away from producing cars to instead become a global leader in the circular economy.

Faye is also a strong advocate for transdisciplinary and collaborative practice, an ethos she tries to embody through her own practice as a planner, architect, landscape designer, and co-instructor. She currently co-teaches Advanced Visual Communications for graduate planning students at UCLA with Ellen Epley, and Asymmetries of Access, a transdisciplinary seminar on the participatory design of public spaces for the inclusion of racial and gender non-conforming minorities, at the University of Southern California. She has previously worked as a Landscape Designer for the non-profit planning and design firm Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) and for the Oslo-based office of Snøhetta

Jonathan Shum

Jonathan Shum is a Senior Vice President of Development for Related California. Mr. Shum is responsible for leading all aspects of the development process, including acquisition, entitlements, finance, design, construction, marketing, and sales/leasing for numerous mixed-income and mixed-use developments located throughout California.

Since joining Related in 2010, Mr. Shum has managed over $750 million of mixed-income and mixed-use developments, including The Avery in San Francisco, a $600 million mixed-income development with 548 residential units and 17,000 square feet of retail; The Emerson in Los Angeles, a $125 million mixed-income development with 271 residential units and 5,500 square feet of retail; and Triada at the Station District in Santa Ana, a $50 million affordable housing development with 114 residential units.

Mr. Shum is a board member of the East Cut Community Benefits District in San Francisco and a faculty lecturer, teaching real estate development at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and the Asian Business Association, and a regular volunteer with Habitat for Humanity International. Prior to joining Related, Mr. Shum was a real estate investment banker at Credit Suisse and Houlihan Lokey in New York, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles. He holds a Master in Real Estate Development and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California

LinkedIn profile

Juan Matute

Juan researches public transit, transportation finance and governance, new mobility, and parking. He led UCLA’s work on two strategic transit plans for the State of California and long-range climate action plans for two Southern California communities. Juan has worked with research teams to quantify the number of parking spaces in Los Angeles County, assess life-cycle environmental impacts of the Los Angeles Metro system, and examine the cost-effectiveness of GHG reductions from California’s High Speed Rail.

As a Lecturer in Urban Planning, Juan teaches graduate classes related to Transportation Policy and Planning and Environmental Assessment for Urban Systems. As Deputy Director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, Juan manages the Center’s operations, external relations, research, and student programs.

Juan holds an MBA and Urban Planning MA from UCLA and a BA from Pomona College.

Morgan Rogers

Morgan is a PhD student in Urban Planning, a Graduate Student Researcher with the Luskin Center of Innovation (LCI), and a NRT-INFEWS trainee. Her research falls within socio-environmental systems scholarship and uses a combination of geospatial, ecological modelling, and urban data science methods within an “Ecology for the City” framework. She uses these methods and framework to investigate the relationship between urban form, biodiversity and ecosystem service outcomes. This framework brings together urban ecology and design with an inclusive, iterative process involving a multitude of stakeholders to translate ‘knowledge-to-action’ for urban sustainability. She aims to work with policymakers and communities to enhance urban ecosystem health and climate change resilience through urban design.

At LCI she works on the Strategic Growth Council Climate Change Research Program funded project, “Micro-climate Zones: Designing Effective Outdoor Cooling Interventions”. The project uses community-engaged microclimate modeling approaches to evaluate heat mitigation strategies in Transformative Climate Communities and other communities in regions disproportionately burdened by rising temperatures. As a NRT-INFEWS trainee, she is researching urban design solutions that enhance ecosystem health and support biodiversity while providing co-benefits such as cooling neighborhoods and reducing energy costs.

Morgan has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning with a focus on environmental analysis and policy from UCLA. Prior to coming to UCLA, she earned her B.A. from UCSB and worked in the field of environmental sustainability and policy for over six years. Her approach to environmental policy was grounded in two principles that she now carries over to her research: the importance of understanding biophysical processes to create effective interventions, and community engagement to ensure equitable access to environmental benefits.