Alvaro Huerta, Ph.D. candidate in Dept. of City & Regional Planning

Alvaro Huerta is an urban planning scholar and syndicated writer. Currently, he’s a Ph.D. Candidate UC Berkeley’s Dept. of City & Regional Planning, Visiting Scholar at UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center and Visiting Lecturer at UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning.

His scholarly interests center on urban planning, ethnic economies, social networks, immigration and the informal economy. Alvaro’s dissertation represents a case study of Mexican immigrant gardeners and their social networks in Los Angeles’s informal economy. His study of paid Mexican gardeners focuses on the complex, informal economic models and markets that these social agents self-organize and self-govern to both survive and thrive in an unregulated economy.

Apart from publishing in academic journals, Alvaro’s syndicated social commentaries have appeared in numerous periodicals, such as The Progressive, Los Angeles Daily News, La Opinion, Los Angeles Business Journal, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburg Tribune-Review, Charlotte Observer, Z-Magazine, and Progressive Planning.

Lastly, he’s been awarded numerous fellowships and public service awards from UCLA, UC Berkeley and professional groups, such as the American Planning Association (APA). For instance, he recently received APA’s national leadership award for his commitment to social justice, diversity and community service.