Penn IUR and Urban Studies Program Convene the 21st Urban Doctoral Symposium

Left to Right: Dr. Eugénie Birch, Co-Director of Penn IUR; Dr. Kimberly Noronha, Penn IUR Post-doctoral Researcher; Dr. Jay Arzu 2026 Graduate; Dr. Wilson Hernandez 2026 Graduate, and Dr. Amy Hillier, Faculty Director of the Penn Urban Studies Program.

On Friday, May 15, 2026, the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR), in partnership with the Penn Urban Studies Program, hosted the 21st Urban Doctoral Symposium at The Study at University City. The annual symposium brought together Penn scholars at every level to celebrate doctoral and undergraduate scholarship addressing urban topics ranging from transportation infrastructure and public safety to climate adaptation, housing, and environmental justice.

The symposium opened with remarks from Eugénie Birch, Co-Director of Penn IUR, and Amy Hillier, Faculty Director of the Penn Urban Studies Program, who commended the students’ hard work of conducting interdisciplinary urban research to shape equitable and resilient cities. Hosted collaboratively by Penn IUR and the Urban Studies Program, the event continued a long-standing tradition of celebrating innovative urban-focused scholarship across the University of Pennsylvania.

Dissertation and Post-Doctoral Presentations

This year’s featured presentations examined the long-term social, political, and spatial dynamics that shape urban life.

Jay Arzu, 2026 Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning (Weitzman School of Design), presented research from his dissertation, “The Roosevelt Boulevard Subway: A Century of Promise, Politics, and Persistence (1913–2026).” Arzu traced the more than century-long history of the proposed transit line, arguing that even unbuilt infrastructure projects exert profound influence on cities. Through archival research, policy analysis, and stakeholder interviews, he developed the concept of “infrastructural shadows” to explain how the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway shaped land use, transportation planning, political discourse, and civic identity in Philadelphia despite never materializing. His work linked the corridor’s persistent auto-dependence to broader structural failures in American transportation policy.

A transportation scholar and advocate, Arzu currently serves as Executive Director of the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway Movement and Co-Founder of Collective Form. His work bridges scholarship, policy, and public engagement, reflecting the symposium’s emphasis on research with real-world impact.

Wilson Hernandez, 2026 Ph.D. in Criminology (School of Arts & Sciences), presented “Does Cleaning a Whole City Reduce Crime? A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Citywide Cleanups in Philadelphia.” Hernandez examined the effects of large-scale city cleaning interventions on crime and disorder in Philadelphia, finding that citywide cleanups reduced visible disorder by 29% and produced modest declines in gun violence. His research demonstrated that environmental maintenance strategies can complement traditional public safety approaches, while also raising important questions about the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of large-scale interventions.

Drawing on expertise in experimental and quasi-experimental methods, Hernandez’s broader research agenda investigates policing, drug markets, and gender-based violence both in the United States and Peru, where he studies hotspot policing and community-based violence reduction initiatives.

Returning to the symposium as a postdoctoral researcher, Kimberly Noronha (Penn IUR and Weitzman School of Design) presented “Knowledge Hierarchies at Ga-Mashie’s Urban-Ocean Interface: How Planning Reproduces Epistemic Exclusion at Accra Harbour (1906–2025).” Building on years of ethnographic and archival research in Ghana, Noronha explored how successive planning regimes, including colonial harbor engineering and contemporary Belt and Road redevelopment, have systematically marginalized the knowledge of urban fisher communities. Her work argued that exclusion at the urban-ocean interface is epistemic, embedded in planning systems that privilege formal expertise while rendering community knowledge “informal” and therefore invisible.

Noronha’s research advances conversations about informality, climate governance, and participatory planning in coastal cities across the Global South. In her current role at Penn IUR, she contributes to the SDSN Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance, examining how local governance capacity shapes access to climate finance.

Poster Presentations Highlight Emerging Urban Scholarship

Following lunch, attendees gathered for a wide-ranging poster session introduced by Julia McWilliams, Co-Director of the Penn Urban Studies Program. The session featured doctoral students, undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium participants, and a Penn IUR Visiting Scholar from Seoul National University whose research dovetails with Penn IUR’s work on nature-based solutions.

Doctoral presenters explored housing policy, climate resilience, urban infrastructure, and environmental risk through interdisciplinary methodologies:

• Yining Lei (City Planning, Weitzman School of Design) examined the impacts of the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program in “Under the RADar: Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), Partner Type, and Residential (In)stability.” Her research investigated how different public-private partnership structures shape housing stability outcomes for residents in redeveloped public housing.
• Latoya Briscoe (Anthropology, School of Arts & Sciences) presented “Sovereignty and Relational Infrastructures in Jamaican Urban Space,” exploring how social and political relationships shape infrastructure systems and urban governance in Jamaica.
• Thabo Lenneiye (City Planning, Weitzman) investigated climate adaptation and Indigenous ecological knowledge in “After the Nexus: Energy, Agriculture, and Indigenous Knowledge in Regional Climate Planning.” His work considered how regional planning frameworks can better incorporate Indigenous approaches to sustainability and resource stewardship.
• Shengao Yi (City Planning, Weitzman) analyzed the relationship between extreme heat and transportation behavior in “The Impacts of Extreme Heat on Vehicle Miles Traveled in the United States.” The project examined how climate-induced temperature extremes affect mobility patterns and travel demand nationwide.
• Rance Graham-Bailey (City Planning, Weitzman) continued his research on public housing transformation with “Repositioning U.S. Public Housing: A Continuum of Public-Private Provision and Commodification.” His work situated housing privatization within broader political-economic debates about commodification and social welfare.
• Sunyoung Cho (City Planning, Weitzman) presented “Do Business Improvement Districts (BID) Reshape Residential Neighborhoods?” Using Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood as a case study, Cho investigated how BID investments influence housing prices and neighborhood change around school boundaries.
• Hui Tian (City Planning, Weitzman) shared research on urban climate resilience in “Remote Sensing-Based Assessment of Urban Flood Susceptibility Dynamics in Wuhan Sponge City, China.” Her work used geospatial analysis to evaluate how flood vulnerability evolves within China’s ambitious Sponge City infrastructure program.
• Hyemi Yang, Visiting Scholar at Penn IUR, presented “A Systematic Literature Review on Heat Wave Adaptive Capacity Research: The Role of Nature-based Solutions.” Her work synthesized emerging scholarship on how green infrastructure and ecological interventions can strengthen urban resilience to extreme heat.

Undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium Presentations

Undergraduate students participating in the Penn IUR-supported Urban Research Colloquium also presented original urban-focused research:

Ruoyo Chen (Environmental Science and Computer Science, School of Arts & Sciences) participated in the poster session with interdisciplinary work at the intersection of environmental systems and computational analysis.

Lucy Chamberlain (Urban Studies, School of Arts & Sciences) presented “Investigation into SEPTA Metro Riders’ Emotions When Waiting for L (Market-Frankford Line) and B (Broad Street Line) Service and Willingness to Pay for Wait Time Reduction of L and B Service.” Her research explored rider perceptions, emotional responses, and behavioral attitudes toward transit reliability in Philadelphia, contributing to broader discussions about rider experience and public transportation investment.

Continuing a Tradition of Urban Scholarship

Now in its 21st year, the Urban Doctoral Symposium continues to serve as a platform for emerging scholars whose work advances understanding of cities and urban systems across disciplines. This year’s presentations reflected the complexity of a range of contemporary urban challenges, as well as the innovative scholarship Penn students and researchers are bringing to address them.

To learn more and sign up for Penn IUR’s Affiliated Doctoral Network, visit https://penniur.upenn.edu/student-programs/affiliated-doctoral-network.

Dissertation and Post-Doctoral Presentations

This year’s featured presentations examined the long-term social, political, and spatial dynamics that shape urban life.

Jay Arzu, 2026 Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning (Weitzman School of Design), presented research from his dissertation, “The Roosevelt Boulevard Subway: A Century of Promise, Politics, and Persistence (1913–2026).” Arzu traced the more than century-long history of the proposed transit line, arguing that even unbuilt infrastructure projects exert profound influence on cities. Through archival research, policy analysis, and stakeholder interviews, he developed the concept of “infrastructural shadows” to explain how the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway shaped land use, transportation planning, political discourse, and civic identity in Philadelphia despite never materializing. His work linked the corridor’s persistent auto-dependence to broader structural failures in American transportation policy.

A transportation scholar and advocate, Arzu currently serves as Executive Director of the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway Movement and Co-Founder of Collective Form. His work bridges scholarship, policy, and public engagement, reflecting the symposium’s emphasis on research with real-world impact.

Wilson Hernandez, 2026 Ph.D. in Criminology (School of Arts & Sciences), presented “Does Cleaning a Whole City Reduce Crime? A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Citywide Cleanups in Philadelphia.” Hernandez examined the effects of large-scale city cleaning interventions on crime and disorder in Philadelphia, finding that citywide cleanups reduced visible disorder by 29% and produced modest declines in gun violence. His research demonstrated that environmental maintenance strategies can complement traditional public safety approaches, while also raising important questions about the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of large-scale interventions.

Drawing on expertise in experimental and quasi-experimental methods, Hernandez’s broader research agenda investigates policing, drug markets, and gender-based violence both in the United States and Peru, where he studies hotspot policing and community-based violence reduction initiatives.

Returning to the symposium as a postdoctoral researcher, Kimberly Noronha (Penn IUR and Weitzman School of Design) presented “Knowledge Hierarchies at Ga-Mashie’s Urban-Ocean Interface: How Planning Reproduces Epistemic Exclusion at Accra Harbour (1906–2025).” Building on years of ethnographic and archival research in Ghana, Noronha explored how successive planning regimes, including colonial harbor engineering and contemporary Belt and Road redevelopment, have systematically marginalized the knowledge of urban fisher communities. Her work argued that exclusion at the urban-ocean interface is epistemic, embedded in planning systems that privilege formal expertise while rendering community knowledge “informal” and therefore invisible.

Noronha’s research advances conversations about informality, climate governance, and participatory planning in coastal cities across the Global South. In her current role at Penn IUR, she contributes to the SDSN Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance, examining how local governance capacity shapes access to climate finance.

Poster Presentations Highlight Emerging Urban Scholarship

Following lunch, attendees gathered for a wide-ranging poster session introduced by Julia McWilliams, Co-Director of the Penn Urban Studies Program. The session featured doctoral students, undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium participants, and a Penn IUR Visiting Scholar from Seoul National University whose research dovetails with Penn IUR’s work on nature-based solutions.

Doctoral presenters explored housing policy, climate resilience, urban infrastructure, and environmental risk through interdisciplinary methodologies:

• Yining Lei (City Planning, Weitzman School of Design) examined the impacts of the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program in “Under the RADar: Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), Partner Type, and Residential (In)stability.” Her research investigated how different public-private partnership structures shape housing stability outcomes for residents in redeveloped public housing.
• Latoya Briscoe (Anthropology, School of Arts & Sciences) presented “Sovereignty and Relational Infrastructures in Jamaican Urban Space,” exploring how social and political relationships shape infrastructure systems and urban governance in Jamaica.
• Thabo Lenneiye (City Planning, Weitzman) investigated climate adaptation and Indigenous ecological knowledge in “After the Nexus: Energy, Agriculture, and Indigenous Knowledge in Regional Climate Planning.” His work considered how regional planning frameworks can better incorporate Indigenous approaches to sustainability and resource stewardship.
• Shengao Yi (City Planning, Weitzman) analyzed the relationship between extreme heat and transportation behavior in “The Impacts of Extreme Heat on Vehicle Miles Traveled in the United States.” The project examined how climate-induced temperature extremes affect mobility patterns and travel demand nationwide.
• Rance Graham-Bailey (City Planning, Weitzman) continued his research on public housing transformation with “Repositioning U.S. Public Housing: A Continuum of Public-Private Provision and Commodification.” His work situated housing privatization within broader political-economic debates about commodification and social welfare.
• Sunyoung Cho (City Planning, Weitzman) presented “Do Business Improvement Districts (BID) Reshape Residential Neighborhoods?” Using Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood as a case study, Cho investigated how BID investments influence housing prices and neighborhood change around school boundaries.
• Hui Tian (City Planning, Weitzman) shared research on urban climate resilience in “Remote Sensing-Based Assessment of Urban Flood Susceptibility Dynamics in Wuhan Sponge City, China.” Her work used geospatial analysis to evaluate how flood vulnerability evolves within China’s ambitious Sponge City infrastructure program.
• Hyemi Yang, Visiting Scholar at Penn IUR, presented “A Systematic Literature Review on Heat Wave Adaptive Capacity Research: The Role of Nature-based Solutions.” Her work synthesized emerging scholarship on how green infrastructure and ecological interventions can strengthen urban resilience to extreme heat.

Undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium Presentations

Undergraduate students participating in the Penn IUR-supported Urban Research Colloquium also presented original urban-focused research:

Ruoyo Chen (Environmental Science and Computer Science, School of Arts & Sciences) participated in the poster session with interdisciplinary work at the intersection of environmental systems and computational analysis.

Lucy Chamberlain (Urban Studies, School of Arts & Sciences) presented “Investigation into SEPTA Metro Riders’ Emotions When Waiting for L (Market-Frankford Line) and B (Broad Street Line) Service and Willingness to Pay for Wait Time Reduction of L and B Service.” Her research explored rider perceptions, emotional responses, and behavioral attitudes toward transit reliability in Philadelphia, contributing to broader discussions about rider experience and public transportation investment.

Continuing a Tradition of Urban Scholarship

Now in its 21st year, the Urban Doctoral Symposium continues to serve as a platform for emerging scholars whose work advances understanding of cities and urban systems across disciplines. This year’s presentations reflected the complexity of a range of contemporary urban challenges, as well as the innovative scholarship Penn students and researchers are bringing to address them.

To learn more and sign up for Penn IUR’s Affiliated Doctoral Network, visit https://penniur.upenn.edu/student-programs/affiliated-doctoral-network.