Nik Theodore
UIC Distinguished Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Policy
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research
Director, Center for Urban Economic Development
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Contact
Building & Room:
215 CUPPA Hall, MC 348
Address:
412 S. Peoria St., Suite 231
Office Phone:
Email:
CV Download:
About
Research interests
- Urban political economy
- Labor markets and labor standards
- Urban informality and informal economies
- Policy mobilities
Courses taught
- UPP 508 Global Urbanization and Planning
- UPP 594 Urban Informality: Conceptual issues, policy debates and interventions
- UPP 594 Globalizing Cities: Policy mobilities, planning paradigms & urban imaginaries
Selected Grants
Ford Foundation, Labor Standards and the Future of Work (2018-22 and 2024-25), Principal Investigator
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Third-Party Logistics Outsourcing: Governance Mechanisms and their Relationship to Warehouse Workforce Systems (2020-23), Co-Principal Investigator
Hispanics in Philanthropy, Mutual Aid among Latino-Serving Organizations during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021-23), Principal Investigator
Selected Publications
Books
Antipode Editorial Collective, eds. (2019) Keywords in Radical Geography: Antipode at 50. Oxford: Wiley.
Peck J and Theodore N (2015) Fast Policy: Experimental Statecraft at the Thresholds of Neoliberalism. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Brenner N, Peck J and Theodore N (2012) Afterlives of Neoliberalism. London: Bedford Press/Architectural Association.
Brenner N and Theodore N, eds. (2003) Spaces of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Western Europe. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Recent articles
Theodore N, Blaauw D, and Schenck C (2025) “Township Economics: How the Market Structure of the Informal Economy Impacts the Recirculation of Secondhand Tires in South Africa,” Urban Studies https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251360868.
Theodore N and Gutelius B (2025) “The E-commerce Labour Regime: Amazon and Beyond,” Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation 19(2): 291-308.
Fawaz M, Marques E, Theodore N, and Weinstein L (2025) “Reflections on Critical Urban Studies in Perilous Times,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 49(3): 473-478.
Peck J and Theodore N (2025) “Cities for a Guaranteed Income: Renewing the Urban Politics of Cash Assistance in the United States,” Urban Geography 46(4): 907-939. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2024.2428076.
Gutelius B and Theodore N (2024) “Redefining ‘Core Competencies’: Labor Market Intermediation in Outsourced Warehouses,” Journal of Labor & Society 27 https://doi.org/10.1163/24714607-bja10134 .
Schenck C, Blaauw D, Theodore N, Niyobuhungiro R (2024) “Informal Tyre Dealers in South Africa: An Assessment of their Contributions to a Circular Economy,” Urban Forum 35(1): 65-81.
Theodore N (2023) “Day Labor Worker Centers: Advancing New Models of Equity and Inclusion in the Informal Economy,” Economic Development Quarterly 37(4): 363-374.
Wright E, Chen JT, Beckfield J, Theodore N, Krieger N (2022) “Workplace Hazards and Health among Informally Employed Domestic Workers in 14 Cities, United States, 2011-2012: Using Four Approaches to Characterize Workers’ Patterns of Exposures,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine 65: 959-974.
Gutelius B and Theodore N (2022) “Technology Adoption and the Future of Warehouse Work,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 75(4): 844-856.
Wright E, Chen JT, Beckfield J, Theodore N, González PL, and Krieger N (2022) “A Novel Use of Latent Class Analysis to Identify Patterns of Workplace Hazards among Informally Employed Domestic Workers in 14 Cities, United States, 2011–2012,” Annals of Work Exposures and Health 66(7): 838–862.
Theodore N (2020) “Deportations and Development: Responding to El Salvador’s New Migration Crisis,” Local Economy 35(7): 635-654.
Haro A, Kuhn R, Rodriguez MA, Theodore N, and Meléndez EJ, and Valenzuela A (2020) “Beyond Occupational Hazards: Abuse of Day Laborers and Health,” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 22(6): 1172-1183.
Theodore N (2020) “Regulating Informality: Worker Centers and Collective Action in Day Labor Markets,” Growth and Change 51(1): 144-160.
Theodore N (2020) “Day Laborers in the Eye of the Storm,” NACLA Report on the Americas 52(2): 192-198.
Theodore N (2020) “Governing through Austerity: (Il)logics of Neoliberal Urbanism after the Global Financial Crisis,” Journal of Urban Affairs 42(1): 1-17.
Recent book chapters
Theodore N and Gutelius B (2025) “Organizing the Care Economy: Shifting Spatial Strategies of Domestic Worker Activism,” in Herod A, ed., Handbook of Labor Geography, 435-448. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Theodore N and Peck J (2024) “Frames and Flows: Pan-Urban Policymaking and Metropolitan Transformation,” in Le Galès P and Robinson J, eds., Routledge Handbook of Comparative Global Urban Studies, 195-206. London: Routledge.
Theodore N (2023) “The Production of Surplus Populations: Informality, Marginality, and Labour,” in and Ballard R and Barnett C, eds., Routledge Handbook of Social Change, 23-41. New York: Routledge.
Theodore N (2021) “Les Centres de Travailleurs: Réguler l’Informalié, du Bas vers le Haut,” in Jean E, Noiseux Y, and Soussi SA, eds., Pauvreté au Travail, Transformations des Marchés de l’Emploi et Trajectoires de Résistance: Un Dialogue Nord-Sud. Montreal: Presses de l’Université du Québec.
Alvarado P, Newman C, Requa-Trautz B, and Theodore N (2020) “Making Injustice Visible: NDLON’s Research and Action,” in Jacobs G, Greenbaum S, and Zinn P, eds., Collaborating for Change: A Casebook of Participatory Action Research, 112-125. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Theodore N (2020) “Using Questionnaires to Survey Hidden Populations,” in Ward K, ed., Researching the City, 2nd edition, 74-88. London: Sage.
Recent reports
Theodore N (2025) Rebuilding Altadena: Critical Gaps in Worker Safety after the Eaton Fire. Pasadena, CA: National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Theodore N (2025) From Hard Work to Hardship: The Impacts of Wage Theft on Day Laborers and the Oakland Economy. National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Theodore N, Ruiz A, Langness M, Chincanchan D, and Chacón L (2025) Behind the Texas Miracle: The Unstable Foundation of the Texas Industry. Austin, TX: Workers Defense.
Theodore N (2024) Repaying the Debt: The Case for Extending “Pensión Bienestar” to Older Adults from Mexico Living in the US. Pasadena, CA: National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Theodore N and Alsous Z (2024) Behind the Skyline: Labor Conditions in South Florida’s Commercial Construction Industry. Miami: WeCount!
Gutelius B and Theodore N (2023) Pandemic-related Trends in Warehouse Technology Adoption. Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley Labor Center.
Theodore N (2023) Chicago Future Fund: An Intervention into Systemic Inequalities. Chicago: Equity and Transformation.
Theodore N (2023) State of Emergency: Immigrant Workers and Hurricane Recovery in Florida. Pasadena, CA: National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Theodore N and Chiarella A (2023) Mutual Aid in Action: The Role of Latinx- and Indigenous-Serving Organizations in Pandemic Recovery. San Francisco, CA: Hispanics in Philanthropy.
Theodore N (2022) “Introduction to ‘Racial Capitalism,’” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Spotlight On Racial Capitalism.
Theodore N (2022) Building an Inclusive Economy: New York’s Day Labor Worker Centers and Workforce Development. UIC Center for Urban Economic Development.
Theodore N (2022) Recovering from Climate Disasters: Immigrant Day Laborers as “Second Responders.” National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Theodore N (2021) Survival Economies: Black Informality in Chicago. Chicago: Equity and Transformation.
Theodore N and Chiarella A (2020) Meeting the Moment: An Early Assessment of the Immigrant Worker Safety Net Fund during the COVID-19 Pandemic. National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Publication Aggregators
Professional Leadership
Editor (2021-present), International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
Editor (2019-21), Antipode Book Series
Editor-in-Chief (2013-19), Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography
Notable Honors
2021, Highly Cited Researcher 2010-2020, Clarivate
2016, University Scholar 2016-2018, University of Illinois Chicago
2015, Researcher of the Year, University of Illinois Chicago
2014, Highly Cited Researcher 2002-2012, Thompson Reuters/Clarivate