معرفی
Alejandra Reyes is Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at University of California, Irvine's School of Social Ecology. Previously, she was the 2018-2019 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Dr. Reyes received her educational training from prestigious institutions:
- B.A. in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley
- M.S. and Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin
As Chair of the Global Planning Educators interest group within the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Dr. Reyes has published over a dozen peer-reviewed articles and journal editorials, along with book chapters, commentaries, and research reports. Her research centers on governance around housing policy, finance, production, and access, highlighting the critical influence of sociopolitical and economic factors on these processes and the importance of addressing related inequities. She examines the political economies of racially concentrated areas of affluence in California and the implications of financialization processes in Mexico, including mortgage debt, housing vacancy, and inadequate access to infrastructure.
Her scholarly work reveals consistent trends examining how reactionary local politics in affluent communities have historically hindered housing development but are increasingly facing pressure to address housing needs through inclusionary zoning, housing funds, and tenant protections. Her comparative work on Mexico and Brazil demonstrates how housing social movements employ 'bridging' strategies to challenge financialization through dynamic relationships between invented and invited spaces of action.
Dr. Reyes has been actively engaged in academic service and knowledge dissemination:
- Co-editor of multiple special issues for the Radical Housing Journal
- Invited speaker at institutions including University of Massachusetts, Amherst and UNAM
- Contributor to public discourse through media citations and community webinars
Her work bridges academic research with practical applications for housing justice, advising organizations like INFONAVIT (Mexico's Housing Fund for Workers) and contributing to scholarly discussions on academic writing pedagogy for doctoral students. She has also examined the evolution of housing finance policy in Mexico, analyzing how political and economic reforms have driven federal administrations to promote mortgage expansion and mass housing production, with significant implications for household debt and urban development patterns.
