Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Columbia GSAPP) is happy to announce that Hugo Sarmiento will join its faculty as Assistant Professor beginning Summer 2021. His appointment is the outcome of a faculty search in Urban Planning with a focus on land use, environmental conditions and resilience, and scholars who engaged global conditions such as climate change, transnational mobility, and 21st century urbanization. Sarmiento received his PhD in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Hugo Sarmiento’s research considers the political and economic dimensions of emerging housing and land use strategies for climate change adaptation, post-disaster recovery, and resilience planning. His research critically examines the relationship between planning for climate change and spatial inequalities such as poor infrastructure, informality, and racialized segregation. Specifically, it considers how these inequalities contribute to the social production of vulnerability to environmental hazards such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels, floods, and landslides. To that end, he relies on comparative research and political economy to investigate the effect of housing markets and governance structures on the spatial distribution of climate-related risks. Central to his research agenda is considering the social mobilization, grassroots resistance, and counter-planning efforts which help shape these strategies.

Sarmiento’s most recent research has focused on the resettlementand displacementof communities vulnerable to the effects of climate change in Colombian cities. Currently he is also studying post-disaster recovery and community relocation efforts in Puerto Rican coastal communities. Sarmiento has a special interest in Latin American urban geographies, having completed projects in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. He will bring expertise in Latin American spaces to the GSAPP Urban Planning program and his work will also expand and deepen the investigations around climate change and social justice throughout the School.