Brenda Parker

Brenda Parker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), within the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA). Her work focuses on urban equity, gender, race, and intersectional approaches to urban planning and policy. She holds a B.A. in Social Relations from Michigan State University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her research examines affordable housing, urban politics, care, activism, and gendered power relations in cities. Current projects include collaborations on gendered housing inequalities, the experiences of formerly incarcerated individuals, and disability intersections with race and economic well-being. She has authored books such as Masculinities and Markets: Raced and Gendered Urban Politics in Milwaukee (2017) and numerous peer-reviewed articles on topics like urban homesteading, pandemic housing precarity, and feminist political economy.

Parker teaches courses including Social Justice and Cities and Political Economy of Cities, and has received awards for teaching excellence: the UIC Teaching Recognition Program Award and the UIC Silver Circle Award. Her work bridges academia and community practice, emphasizing policy interventions that address systemic inequities.