Philip Ashton

Philip Ashton is a Professor and Department Head in the Urban Planning and Policy Program at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), part of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. His work focuses on the intersection of urban governance, financial markets, and racial inequality. He has held visiting appointments at l’Université Gustave Eiffel in Paris and the American Bar Foundation, and collaborates with institutions like the Laboratoire Techniques Territoires et Sociétés (LATTS).

Education: BA (Honours) from University of Winnipeg (1990), MUP from McGill University (1993), PhD from Rutgers University (2005). His career includes roles as a research associate at Rutgers’ Center for Urban Policy Research and technical advisor to housing cooperatives in North America.

Research interests center on the financialization of urban spaces, particularly how private financial instruments reshape urban policy responses to racial exclusion and austerity. Current projects examine climate action planning within financialized frameworks and the legal adjudication of racialized mortgage discrimination. His interdisciplinary work integrates socio-legal studies, economic geography, and heterodox economics.

Publications span leading journals including Economy & Society, Urban Studies, and Environment & Planning A. Key themes include infrastructure privatization (e.g., Chicago’s Skyway lease), subprime mortgage crises, and the political economy of law. His upcoming book Doe v. Subprime critiques legal barriers to reparations for systemic mortgage exploitation.

Grants and collaborations include work with Rachel Weber (UIC) and Marc Doussard (UIUC) on financial statecraft in urban infrastructure. His lab focuses on emergent financial practices shaping urban governance, with an international lens informed by his Paris-based research.