April Jackson, MUP, M.Arch, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Master of City Design Program
Urban Planning and Policy
Pronouns: She/her/hers
Contact
Building & Room:
227 CUPPA Hall, MC 348
Address:
412 S. Peoria St, Chicago, IL 60607, Suite 227
Office Phone:
Email:
CV Download:
CV Link:
Related Sites:
About
April is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Research Affiliate with the Voorhees Center at CUPPA and the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities at Case Western Reserve University. As a community-engaged scholar-practitioner her research explores how to enhance planning practice and the built environment by promoting plans with a focus on equitable, inclusive, and just communities. Her work examines place-based, neighborhood-level affordable housing strategies that seek to embed racial equity and reparations in spatial plans and policies, highlighting inclusive planning processes that aim to improve communities of color.
Her current research explores how Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) facilitates racial equity in implementation of the built environment, community building practices, and neighborhood change in Chicago, IL. More recently, she has expanded her work to address gentrification and implications for affordable housing and vulnerable populations through an evaluation of climate-driven displacement in Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa in Florida.
April also teaches courses in Community Engagement, Neighborhood Planning, Urban Design, Affordable Housing, and Spatial Planning. Prior to joining UIC in 2021, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. She also has extensive experience working in the private sector as an architect and urban designer at Destefano Partners and AECOM in Chicago, IL and Irvine, CA on public housing redevelopment projects, neighborhood revitalization plans, and new urbanist communities in the U.S., China, and the Middle East. She earned her Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds dual master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in Architecture and Urban Planning and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
Selected Grants
Mellon Foundation, Renewal Project - Valley Voices: Documenting Displacement & Preserving Community Memory, Co-Principal Investigator ($1M)
National Institute of Health (NIH), Center for Climate and Health Equity, Co-Principal Investigator ($4M)
Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement (IPCE), University of Illinois at Chicago., Natalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Involvement Gentrification Index, Co-Principal Investigator ($20,000)
Polk Bros. Foundation, Planning for Chicago’s Plan for Transformation and Choice Neighborhoods Imitative, Co-Principal Investigator ($75,000)
Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP), University of Illinois at Chicago, Rebuilding Berwyn, Revisioning Cermak Road, Co-Principal Investigator ($10,000)
University of Illinois at Chicago, Creative Activity Award, Engaging Chicago, Supporting Neighborhoods: Collaborative City Design Promoting University-Community Partnerships, Co-Principal Investigator ($25,000)
Selected Publications
Jackson, A., Khare, A., Nawaz, S., Anderson, D. (2025). Chicago Plan for Transformation and Choice at Year 25: Where are they now? Natalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Involvement, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Jackson, A., Greenlee, A., Alcorn, P. (2025). The Voorhees Gentrification Index: The Socioeconomic Change of Chicago’s Communities (1970-2020) Natalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Involvement, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Garcia-Zambrana, I., Jackson, A., Lee, A., Chrisinger, B., & Greenlee, A. (2025). On the outside looking in: African American and Latinx student perspectives on community-engaged courses at predominantly white institutions. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 0(0). Retrieved from https://doi-org.srv-proxy1.library.tamu.edu/10.1177/0739456X251339979
Jackson, A., Yerena, A., Garcia, I., Chrisinger, B., Lee, A., Harjo, L., & Harwood, S. (Eds.). (2023). Anti-Racist Futures: Disrupting Racist Planning Practices in Workplaces, Institutions, and Communities [Introduction to the Special Issue]. Journal of the American Planning Association. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2023.2244850
Melix, B., Jackson, A., Butler, W., Holmes, T. (2022). Locating Neighborhood Displacement Risks to Climate Gentrification Pressures in Three Coastal Counties in Florida. The Professional Geographer. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2022.2087695
Garcia-Zambrana, I., Jackson, A., Lee, A., Yerena, A., Chrisinger, B., & Greenlee, A. (2021). Feeling like the Odd Duck in the Room: The Experience of African American/Black and Latin/o/a Planning Practitioners. Journal of the American Planning Association, 30. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2020.1858936
Garcia-Zambrana, I., Jackson, A., Harwood, S., Lee, A., Chrisinger, B., & Greenlee, A. (2020). “Like a Fish Out of Water:” The African American and Latino Experience of Students in Planning Schools. Journal of the American Planning Association, 30. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2020.1777184
Jackson, A. (2019). Accountability Matters: Beyond Commitment, the Role of Intermediate Mechanisms in Implementing Plans in Mixed Income Communities. Housing Studies, 35. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2019.1595536
Jackson, A., & Marques, M. (2019). DIY Do’s and Don’ts: Limitations to Building University Partnerships with Low Resource Communities of Color. Planning Practice and Research, 40. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2019.1578917
Jackson, A. (2018). Barriers to Integrating New Urbanism in Mixed-Income Housing Plans in Chicago: Developer, Housing Official, and Consultant Perspectives. Housing Policy Debate, 35. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2018.1433703
Service to Community
Center for Neighborhood Technology and Chicago Architecture Foundation, Community Planning Academy (2024-present)
National Public Housing Civic Love Luncheon Committee (2024-present)
Mayor Brandon Johnson Transition Team Member, Affordable Housing Committee (2023-present)
Member, Community Development Advisory Committee. Department of Planning and Development. City of Chicago. (2023-present)
Professional Leadership
Chair, Local Host Conference Committee (2025-present), Urban Affairs Association (UAA)
Secretary, Governing Board (2025-present)., Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ASCP)
Member, Ad-Hoc Advisory Committee (2024-present)., Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ASCP)
Co-Chair, Taskforce for Antiracism, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ASCP)
Mentor (2024-present), Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ASCP)
Editorial Board Member, (2022-present), Journal of American Planning Association (JAPA)
Co-Chair, Planner of Color Interest Group (POCIG), (2022-24), Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ASCP)
UIC Liaison, APA Illinois Executive committee (2021-present), American Planning Association (APA)
Education
B.A (Architecture) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.Arch & M.U.P (Architecture and Urban Planning) University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Ph.D. (Urban Planning), University of Illinois at Chicago
Professional Memberships
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ASCP)
Urban Affairs Association (UAA)
American Planning Association (APA)
National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)
Research Currently in Progress
Jackson, A., Butler, W., Holmes, & T., Milordis, A., Nawaz, S. (submitted). Climate Gentrification: Examining its conundrums and charting future directions for research and action
Milordis, A., Butler, W., Holmes, & T., and Jackson, A., Curry, C. (submitted). Climate Reduction or Possibilism: Exploring Whether Climate Change is Driving Gentrification in South St. Petersburg.
Jackson, A., Holmes, & T., Butler, W., and Milordis, A. (in progress). Climate Gentrification in Florida: Perspectives from Public officials, Developers, and Advocates in Tampa and Miami.
Jackson, A., Khare, A., Nawaz, S., Anderson, D. (in progress) From HOPE to Choice - Lessons from the case of Chicago: Woodlawn Park as a way forward.
Jackson, A., Khare, A., Nawaz, S., Anderson, D. (in progress) From the Ground Up: Stories of Resident Inclusion and Community Building – Advocate, Resident, and Developer Perspectives.