David López-García
Assistant Professor
Department of Urban Planning and Policy
Pronouns: he / him
Contact
Building & Room:
CUPPA Hall, Suite 215, Office 217
Address:
412 S Peoria St., Chicago, Illinois.
Office Phone:
Email:
Related Sites:
Courses taught at UIC
LALS/US 220 – Latin American Cities in a Global Context: Environment, Employment, and Housing.
GEOG/US 100 – Concepts in Geography.
UPP 506 – Plan Making Studio.
UPP 508 – Global Urbanization and Planning.
About
I am the founder and co-coordinator of the Urban Structure Lab at UIC. My research examines shifts in the urban spatial structure of large urban regions and their implications for economic development policy, job accessibility, and the commuting experience. I use spatial analytic tools and statistical modeling to understand whether places of increasing employment are accessible to those most in need of work. I also examine the governance of urban spatial structure, where I look at the policy-making process of state-led efforts to influence the evolution of how an urban region is spatially arranged.
My book, "Worker Mobility and Urban Policy in Latin America: Policy Interactions and Urban Outcomes in Mexico City," develops and applies the Policy Interactions Framework, an analytical framework designed to study how seemingly distinct public policies overlap and interact in urban space to produce urban outcomes. My book also proposes the Choiceless Mobility Hypothesis, a situation in which the evolution of an urban spatial structure constantly increases commuting costs for workers with jobs in the main concentrations of employment.
My current research project is "The Governance of Urban Spatial Structure in Latin American Megalopolises: Mexico City, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires." It is a comparative study to understand better what governs the evolution of employment subcenters in the three larger Latin American megalopolises and its implications for job access and the commuting experience. I also have secondary research projects on related topics in Guadalajara (Mexico), Montevideo (Uruguay), New York City, and Chicago (United States).
I am part of several international research networks. I co-coordinate the LAC-US Urban Structure Network, where we study the recent trends in the evolution of urban spatial structure in Latin American urban regions. I am the Academic Director for the Latin American Chapter of the International Network for Transport and Accessibility in Low-Income Communities (INTALInC-LAC). I am an active member of the Seminar for Spatial Inequalities organized by El Colegio de México (Colmex) and the Policy Mobilities Working Group (PMWG) organized by the Tecnológico de Monterrey and the University of Toronto.
At CUPPA, I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Urban Economic Development (CUED) and an Affiliate Researcher at the Great Cities Institute (GCI). I teach in the economic development specialization.
Selected Grants
Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP), University of Illinois Chicago, "Race, travel time, and quality job access in Chicagoland: Comparing models of job accessibility with actual commuting burden", Principal Investigator ($10,000)
Gao-Zhang for Geospatial Technologies Research Award. University of Illinois Chicago, Comparative analysis of multiple methods of employment subcenter detection, Co-Principal Investigator ($19,000)
World Vision, Advancing targeting through a spatial lens: An exploration of the spatial determinants of success and failures in the implementation of the SPIR I project in Ethiopia, Principal Investigator ($53,620)
Selected Publications
Peer review journals
Villamizar, N., Ardila, A.M., López-García, D. & Hernández, D. (2025) The ‘accessibility turn’ in urban research: Contributions from Latin America and the Global South. Area Development and Policy. Published online: 26 March 2025.
López-García, D. (2024) Diverging mobility situations in Greater Mexico City: Exploring the factors behind the mobility situations of public transport commuters. Urban Studies, 61(10), 1849-1870.
Baker, D. & López-García, D. (2024) Do shifts in the racial and ethnic composition of a neighborhood lead to extreme changes in commuting times? Evidence from New York City. Travel Behavior and Society, 36, 100775.
López-García, D. & Heathcott, J. (2024) Showcase Politics: The production and distribution of new public space in Mexico City. Journal of Urban Affairs. 46(4), 772-790.
López-García, D. & Baker, D. (2023) Diverging Mobility Situations: Measuring Relative Job Accessibility and Differing Socioeconomic Conditions in New York City. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 113(1), 149-168.
Whitney, R. & López-García, D. (2023) Fast-track institutionalization: The opening of urban planning best practice agencies in Mexico City. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 41(3), 600-616.
Heathcott, J. & López-García, D. (2022) Design Highs and Policy Lows in the Making of New Public Space in Mexico City. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability. Online first.
López-García, D. & Gómez-Álvarez, D. (2022) Estructura urbana del Área Metropolitana de Guadalajara, 1999-2019: Un análisis de subcentros de empleo [Urban structure of Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, 1999-2019: An analysis of employment subcenters]. Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos, 37(2), 427-481.
López-García, D. (2017) Mediation styles and participant’s perception of success in consultative councils: The case of Guadalajara, Mexico. Journal of Public Deliberation, 13(2), Article 10.
Authored books
López-García, D. (2023) Worker mobility and urban policy in Latin America: Policy interactions and urban outcomes in Mexico City. New York and Abingdon: Routledge.
Edited books
López-García, D., Villamizar, N., Ardila, A. & Vecchio, G. (in contract). Urban Planning and Accessibility in Latin America: Spatial, Mobile, and Socio-Cultural Dimensions. Routledge Advances in Regional Economics, Science, and Policy. New York and Abingdon: Routledge.
Delgado, G. & López-García, D. (2020) Cities and COVID-19: New Directions for Urban Research and Public Policies. Mexico City: Knowledge Platform for Urban Transformation, International Network for Government and Science.
Working papers
López-García, D. & Lowe, K. (2025) Race, travel time, and earnings in Chicagoland: Comparing predicted job accessibility with the commuting burden of public transit. Working Paper No. 02, Urban Spatial Structure Lab, University of Illinois Chicago.
Book chapters
López-García, D., Whitney, R. & Heathcott, J. (forthcoming) Institucionalización fast-track y política de vitrina como estrategias para la consolidación de innovaciones en la gestión urbana [Fast-track institutionalization and showcase politics as strategies to consolidate urban innovations]. In Cesar Rentería and David Gómez-Álvarez (Eds.), Pensar fuera de la caja burocrática: espacios para la innovación pública en América Latina. University of Guadalajara Press.
López-García, D. (2024) Desarrollo Urbano en las Áreas Metropolitanas en Jalisco: Tendencias en la evolución de su estructura urbana e implicaciones para la calidad de la vida [Urban development in Jalisco Metropolitan Areas: Trends in the trajectory of urban spatial structure and implications for quality of life]. In Adrián Acosta (Ed.), Jalisco, mañana: Proyecto de actualización de Jalisco a Futuro, visión 2050. University of Guadalajara Press.
López-García, D. (2023) Trajectorias residenciales y experiencia de movilidad en la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México [Housing pathways and the mobilty experience of workers in Mexico City]. In Pablo Elinbaum and Gonzalo Sanz Cerbino (Eds.), Espacio, Tecnología y Acumulación: La construcción de una agenda de investigación para los estudios urbano-regionales. Buenos Aires: CONICET, CEUR.
López-García, D. (2023) Desigualdades en el viaje al trabajo en la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México [Inequalities in the journey to work in Mexico City]. In Martha Schteingart, Clara Salazar, and Jaime Sobrino (Eds.), Desigualdades Territoriales: Miradas Cruzadas. México: El Colegio de México.
López-García, D. (2023) El transporte público masivo: accesibilidad y exclusión social [Mass public transport: Accessibilty and social exclusion]. In David Gómez-Álvarez et al (Eds.). Jalisco a medio camino: Balance parcial 2018-2021. Volumen I, Políticas públicas locales. Guadalajara: Universidad de Guadalajara.
López-García, D. (2022) Building Inequality: Infrastructure and Intra-Urban Inequality in the Capitalist City. In Deljana Iossifova, Yahya Gamal and Alexandros Gasparatos (Eds.), Urban Infrastructuring: reconfigurations, transformations, and sustainability in the Global South. Singapore: Springer Nature.
López-García, D. (2019) La Paz, Bolivia: The social construction of risk and vulnerability. In Michael Cohen, Margarita Gutman and María Carrizosa (Eds.) Facing Risk. New Urban Resilience Practices in Latin America, The New School.
Reports
López-García, D. (2022) How just is public transport in African Cities? Nairobi: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).
Cohen, M., Simet, L., López-García, D., Orr, B., De La Cruz, M. & Issadeen, A. (2018) The Habitat Commitment Project: Monitoring and assessing progress at the city level. New York: Global Urban Futures Project, The New School.
Cohen, M., López-García, D., Jaimes, M., Simet, L., Gálvez, J., Delgado, G. & Verduzco, B. (2017) Análisis costo-beneficio de la Ecozona-Toluca [Cost-benefit analysis of Ecozona-Toluca]. New York: German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), The New School.
López-García, D. & Issadeen, A. (2017) Habitat Commitment Index: Access to safe, clean water. New York: Global Urban Futures Project, The New School.
Cohen, M., Orr, B., Simet, L., Carter, C., De La Cruz, M., Jaimes, M., Kim, Y., López-García, D. & Roberts, J. (2016) The Habitat Commitment Project: Assessing the past for a better urban future. New York: Global Urban Futures Project, The New School.
Publication Aggregators
Professional Leadership
Academic Coordinator, Latin American Chapter of the International Network for Transport and Accessibility in Low-Income Communities (INTALInC-LAC).
Co-Coordinator, Urban Structure Lab at UIC
Co-Chair, Planners of Color Interest Group (POCIG), Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP)
Education
Ph.D. in Public and Urban Policy, The New School.
M.Phil. in Public and Urban Policy, The New School.
M.S. in Comparative Public Policy, FLACSO-México.
B.A. in Management, Universidad de Guadalajara.
Research Currently in Progress
- The governance of urban spatial structure in Latin American megalopolises: Mexico City, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires.
- Evolution of urban spatial structure in Latin American urban regions and US Metropolitan Statistical Areas.
- Disparities in the journey to work in Mexico City and Montevideo.
- Race, travel time, and quality job access in Chicagoland: Comparing models of job accessibility with the actual commuting burden.
- Inequalities of access to jobs in employment subcenters in New York City.