Claire Nelischer

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I am a doctoral candidate in UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning. My research centers on questions of spatial justice in the production, design, and governance of urban public space, and the role of planners, designers, and communities in shaping shared public environments and outcomes. My dissertation investigates the role of philanthropy in the production of urban public parks and implications for spatial justice. This work is supported by a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

I am also a Doctoral Fellow at cityLAB-UCLA, a research center that leverages design, research, policy, and education to create more just urban futures. With cityLAB, I lead community-engaged research efforts focused on understanding and intervening in the public realm to support the safety, well-being, and urban citizenship of youth and older adults in Los Angeles and beyond.

In my research and teaching, I explore transdisciplinary approaches to understanding and representing the city. I hold a graduate certificate from UCLA’s Urban Humanities Initiative, where I now teach as an instructor and teaching assistant. I am a founding member of the UnCommon Public Space Group, a collective that uses community-based events to explore pressing public space issues and to advance spatial justice. Before pursuing doctoral studies, I worked in policy research, advocacy, and community engagement in Toronto and New York City, with a focus on the public realm.

I have co-authored several publications and policy reports with many wonderful advisors, classmates, and colleagues, including Intergenerational public space design and policy: A review of the literature (Journal of Planning Literature), Caring public space: Advancing justice through intergenerational public space design and planning (Journal of Urban Affairs), Urban humanities as a framework for the study of public space during the pandemic (Journal of Urban Design), and The Road, Home: Challenges of and Responses to Homelessness in State Transportation Environments (Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives).

Gus Wendel

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Gus Wendel began the Ph.D program in Urban Planning in the fall of 2020. His research is broadly concerned with the intersection of race, gender and sexuality, urban design and governance, and neighborhood change. In his concurrent role as the Assistant Director of cityLAB-UCLA, Gus oversees several design-research projects examining the links between housing insecurity, long-distance commuting, and public space access and use. Gus also manages the multi-year Mellon Foundation award to the Urban Humanities Initiative, where he also co-produces the Digital Salon and is involved in teaching and research. Prior to UCLA, Gus worked for the Oregon Secretary of State and advocated for LGBTQ rights in the state of Oregon. Gus has a Master in Urban and Regional Planning from the Luskin School of Public Affairs and a BA in International Relations and Italian Studies from Brown University.

Emma Mehlig French

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Emma is a PhD student in Urban Planning and a Graduate Student Researcher with the Luskin Center for Innovation. Her research seeks to understand the nature and causes of maladaptation in local climate planning. Her work is grounded in the political nature of planning, as well as a strong belief in the power of individuals and social movements to shift practice through coordinated action. At the Luskin Center, Emma is helping to evaluate the first round of the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) Program, a state-funded, community-led initiative aimed at reducing local greenhouse gas emissions and improving public health and economic wellbeing in California.

Prior to coming to UCLA, Emma was a Research Scientist at the Center for Urban Innovation at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she helped launch the Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation Initiative. In 2016, Emma received a Smart Cities Fellowship, which she used to help fund independent research on the role of smart city technologies in participatory environmental planning in West Atlanta. Emma received a Master’s of City and Regional Planning and a MSc in Public Policy from Georgia Tech, and a BA in Environmental Analysis from Pitzer College.