Doctoral Symposium Celebrates New Urban Research at Penn

On Friday, May 16, the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR), in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Urban Studies Program, hosted the 18th annual Penn Urban Doctoral Symposium—a celebration of new ideas research by Penn doctoral candidates whose work addresses critical urban challenges across disciplines. Held at the University of Pennsylvania, the symposium convened students, faculty, and practitioners to explore how doctoral research is shaping the future of cities.

In her opening remarks, Eugénie Birch, Penn IUR Co-Director, highlighted the symposium’s role in amplifying cross-disciplinary scholarship that speaks directly to the needs of a rapidly urbanizing world. She was joined by Amy Hillier and Julia McWilliams, Co-Directors of the Urban Studies Program, who underscored the program’s ongoing commitment to supporting undergraduate research that blends academic rigor with real-world application.

Showcasing Dissertations That Rethink the Urban Condition

Three recent doctoral graduates presented their dissertations, each offering a novel lens on urban systems ranging from spatial governance and education to race and policy.

• Kimberly Noronha, Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning (Weitzman School of Design), presented “The Landscape of Informality: Rethinking Marine Spatial Planning at the Urban-Ocean Interface.” Drawing on ethnographic research in coastal fisher communities in Accra, Ghana, and Kochi, India, Noronha challenged conventional views of urban informality. She argued for integrating marine and urban planning frameworks to better reflect the lived realities of coastal women, whose traditional ecological knowledge and spatial practices are vital in the face of accelerating climate impacts.
• Michael Lachanski, Ph.D. Candidate in Demography and Sociology (School of Arts & Sciences), explored the “Historical Sociology of U.S. Educational Expansion, 1850–1950.” Using a newly linked dataset of Decennial Census records and advanced regression methods, Lachanski revisited long-standing narratives about rural educational advantage in early 20th-century America. His findings complicate prior assumptions, revealing more consistent rural-urban disparities across regions and time than previously believed.
• Dr. Jonathon Sun, Ph.D. in Higher Education (Graduate School of Education), presented “Of Chinatowns and Ethnoburbs: A Quantitative Ethnographic and GIS Approach to Asian American Students and Families' Perceptions on Race-Conscious Admissions.” Sun combined interviews, GIS analysis, and epistemic network modeling to explore how geography shapes Asian American attitudes toward affirmative action. His comparative study of Philadelphia and West Windsor-Plainsboro surfaced key differences in how community context influences beliefs about equity, merit, and higher education policy.

Poster Presentations: A Window into Emerging Urban Research

Following the dissertation talks, attendees explored a diverse array of poster presentations by doctoral and undergraduate students whose research addresses the complexities of urban life, such as environmental justice and housing policy, as well as climate resilience and digital economies.

Highlights from the doctoral poster session included:

• Kirstin Engelman’s investigation into how planners can engage with coastal “blue carbon” ecosystems;
• Rance Graham-Bailey’s study of U.S. public housing privatization through a global social housing lens;
• Rebecca Pepe’s mixed-methods work on water insecurity and health in Philadelphia;
• Jasmine Siyu Wu’s data-driven approach to understanding how young drivers develop traffic safety skills;
• Shengao Yi’s machine learning-based modeling of heat stress around city bus stops;
• Chengyan Xia’s research on livestreaming e-commerce and transnational entrepreneurship in Yiwu, China.

Students from the Undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium, a Penn IUR-supported initiative with Urban Studies, also presented their faculty-mentored projects. Topics ranged from asthma disparities and environmental legacies in South Philadelphia to stormwater infrastructure in China’s Sponge Cities and equitable development strategies for Philadelphia’s Market East.

Advancing Urban Knowledge Through Collaboration

By convening researchers from across Penn’s schools and disciplines, the Urban Doctoral Symposium celebrates academic achievement and sparks dialogue that can influence how cities evolve in the face of climate change, social inequality, and technological transformation. Events like these are core to Penn IUR’s mission to foster cross-disciplinary urban scholarship that informs policy and practice in a changing world. 

The insights presented at this year’s symposium reaffirm the importance of rigorous and inclusive scholarship that leads to actionable ideas in planning and policy.

Learn more about Penn IUR’s events and student programs.