Urban and Regional Planning

Yan Wang

Yan Wang

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER)
Associate Professor
(352) 294-3376
Antevy Hall
yanw@ufl.edu

Areas of Focus:  Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience, Smart Buildings/Cities) building sustainability through resilient built environment research and better infrastructure planning for emerging technologies to reduce GHG emission.

Bio: Dr. Yan Wang is an Associate Professor at the Department of Urban & Regional Planning in College of Design, Construction and Planning, University of Florida. She is a founding faculty member for the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER) and the founder and director of the Urban Agility and Resilience Lab. Her research focuses on developing and applying computational tools to quantity and manage urban resilience in response to disruptions, including hazards and emerging technologies. Over the past decade, Dr. Wang’s has made contributions to answer (i) how resilience can be measured, explained, and enhanced within built communities and (ii) how to achieve information agility and integrity in digital environments. Her pioneering work explores the intersection of urban resilience and urban analytics, particularly the roles of spatial planning and crisis informatics. Recognized as the top-ranked female scholars in urban analytics globally, Dr. Wang has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers (Google Scholar) and has secured more than $3 million in research funding, including eight prestigious federal awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Prior to UF, Dr. Wang earned her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech. She also holds a master’s degree in asset valuation (BJTU) and a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering and management (BJTU) from the school of economics and management. She is the recipient of NSF CAREER Award (2025), UF Excellence Awards for Assistant Professors (2022), UF Global Research Fellow (2018), Weather Ready Research Fellowships (Natural Hazard Center, 2021), Mitigation Matters Award (Natural Hazard Center, 2020), ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering Accolade Best Paper Award (2021), UF Research Promotion Initiative Award (2021), UF Great Teaching Certificate (2021), DCP Excellence in Research Award (2021) and Virginia Tech IGEP BioBuild Fellowship (2015-2018).

Her teaching efforts primarily contribute to tailored pedagogies and contextualized curricula for urban analytics within planning programs, particularly for the Urban Analytics Program within the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. She has served on the editorial board of the ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering since 2020 and is the Guest Editor for the Journal of Planning Education and Research’s special issue on AI and Urban Planning (2024-2027).

Research Topics

Urban Resilience; Urban Analytics; Spatial and Infrastructure Planning; Crisis Informatics; Human Dynamics; Responsible AI; Smart and Connected Communities.

Affiliations

Founding Faculty, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER)

Founder, Urban Agility and Resilience Laboratory

Affiliate Faculty, UF Informatics Institute

Affiliate Faculty, UF Transportation Institute

Affiliate Faculty, Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World

Awards

2025 National Science Foundation CAREER Award

University of Florida Excellence Awards for Assistant Professors (2022)

ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering Honorable Mention Award (2021)

University of Florida Research Promotion Initiative Award (2021)

Excellence in Research Award, College of Design, Construction and Planning (2021)

Great Teaching Certificate, UF Center for Teaching Excellence (2021)

Weather Ready Research Fellowships, Natural Hazard Center (NSF &NOAA) (2021)

Mitigation Matters Award, Natural Hazard Center, 2020

Global Research Fellow, by University of Florida, November 8, 2018

Virginia Tech IGEP BioBuild Fellowship, by Virginia Tech, Aug. 2015 – May 2018

Publications

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

Selected Grants

2025-2030: CAREER: Generative Deep Learning for Post-Disaster Spatial Regeneration Planning
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2440023)
Programs: Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment & Human-Envi & Geographical Scis

2024-2025 PI: RAPID: Assessing Urgent Time Use Dynamics Among Time-Poor Populations in Preparation for Hurricane Helene and Milton
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2505675)
Program: CMMI-HDBE-Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment

2024-2025 PI: Investigating Neighborhood Mobility Resilience and Aging Vulnerability under Environmental Shocks
Sponsor: National Institute on Aging, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at the University of Florida
Program: Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) Pilot Study

2023-2026 Co-PI: Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: Information Integrity: A User-centric Intervention
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2323794)
Program: CNS-Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace

2023-2026 PI: Spatial Explanation and Planning for Resilience of Community-Based Small Businesses to Environmental Shocks
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2316450)
Program: CMMI-HDBE-Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment

2022-2023 Faculty: GulfSouth Studio
Sponsor: The National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine

2021-2022 PI: SCC-PG: SmartCurb: Building Smart Urban Curb Environments
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2124858)
Program: Smart and Connected Communities – Planning Grants

2020-2021 PI: RAPID: Dynamic Interactions between Human and Information in Complex Online Environments Responding to SARS-COV-2.
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2028012)
Program: CMMI-Humans, Disasters and Built Environment

2020-2021 Co-PI: SCC-PG: Coordinated Safety Management Across Smart Communities
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #1951816)
Program: Smart and Connected Communities – Planning Grants

2018-2019 PI (Sub award): RAPID: Discovering Crises within Crises – Real-Time Detection, Tracking and Visualization of Emergent Crises in Hurricanes.
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #1760645)
Program: CISE-Information & Intelligent Systems

2021-2022 PI: Weather Ready Research Fellowship: Assessing the Impact of Geo-Targeted Warning Messages on Residents Evacuation Decisions Before a Hurricane
Sponsor: Natural Hazards Center (flow from NSF and NOAA)

2021-2021 Key Personnel: Upper Suwannee River Resilience Columbia County and The Town of White Springs
Sponsor: Florida Department of Economic Opportunity

2021 PI: Assessing Disaster Impact in Real Time (ADIR): A Data-Driven System Integrating Human, Hazards, and the Built Environment
Sponsor: UF Office of the Provost-Research Promotion Initiative Award

2020-2021 PI: Examining Digital Vulnerability to Flooding Among Subsidized Housing Residents in Florida.
Sponsor: Natural Hazards Center-Mitigation Matters Research Program.

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Daniel Downing

Daniel Downing

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Assistant Scholar, GeoPlan Center
AH 131
Dadowning@ufl.edu

M.A., Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 2016
B.S., Liberal Studies, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, 2000

Areas of specialization: GIS Programming Data and GIS web service development

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Reginald Pierre-Jean

Reginald Pierre-Jean

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
GeoPlan Center
AH 131
reginald@ufl.edu

M.A., Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 2011
B.A., Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 2008

Areas of specialization: GIS development Programming and customization Web development

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Laura Dedenbach, Ph.D., AICP

Laura Dedenbach, Ph.D., AICP

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Instructional Assistant Professor // Interim Department Chair // Interim Associate Director, SLA+P
(352) 294-1493
AH 466
laurajd@ufl.edu

Ph.D., Design, Construction and Planning, University of Florida, 2016
• Concentration: Urban and Regional Planning
• Graduate Minor: Anthropology
Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, 1999
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, University of Florida, 1996

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Areas of Focus: Planning Policy and Practice, Urban Resilience and Empowerment, & Planning Education

My mission is to bring my passion for planning, informed by education and almost 30 years of professional experience, to educate the next generation of planning professionals. As an American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) member, I bring a practice-based emphasis to my teaching, service, and research. My area of specialization in urban resilience and empowerment is framed by the central question of how planners work collaboratively with communities to foster both individual and collective flourishing. I have committed myself to innovations in higher education and as an advocate for planning education, while significantly expanding opportunities for professional development and support for students.

Biography

Dr. Dedenbach received her master’s in urban and regional planning and doctorate in urban and regional planning, with a graduate minor in anthropology, from UF. Her teaching and research interests include land use and comprehensive planning, issues of land use compatibility, crime prevention and the built environment, urban resilience, neighborhood planning, empowerment, effects of gentrification on neighborhood culture and stability, and planning education.

Dr. Dedenbach teaches classes in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, including:

  • URP6131, Land Use Planning Law
  • URP6603, Development Review
  • URP6203, Planning Research Design
  • URP 4000, Preview to Urban and Regional Planning
  • URP 4740/6745, Housing and Urban Development
  • URP 4882/6880, Defensible Space and CPTED in Urban Design
  • URP 4774, Neighborhood Planning

Dr. Dedenbach is the co-Director of UF Quest 1. She teaches a Quest 1 course: URP1002, “This Must Be the Place”: Place-based Narratives and Community Identity.

Prior to joining the URP Faculty in 2019,  Dr. Dedenbach was a planning director and planning consultant, specializing in comprehensive planning, policy and development planning, and small town and rural planning. She is a recognized expert on planning and zoning issues by local governments, the Florida Department of Administrative Hearings, and Circuit, Appeals, and Federal courts. She has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) since 2001.

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Zhong-Ren Peng

Zhong-Ren Peng

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Professor/Director International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design (iAdapt)
352-294-1491
AH 462
zpeng@dcp.ufl.edu
https://dcp.ufl.edu/iadapt/

Areas of Focus: Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience, Smart Buildings/Cities, Sustainable Technology) Conducting research in sustainable transportation systems such as public transportation systems, shared mobility and environment impacts of transportation networks; conducting research in adaptation planning for climate change like sea level rise and extreme weather. Education Ph.D., Urban Studies, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, 1994 M.S., Economics, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, 1994 M.S., Geography, Graduate School of University of Science and Technology of China, Beijing, People’s Republic of China, 1986 B.S., Geography, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China, 1983 Areas of Expertise

  • Geospatial Information Systems and Analysis
  • Information Technology for Planning
  • International Planning
  • Landscape Planning Using GIS
  • Transportation

Teaching URP 6276: Internet Geographic Information Systems URP 6821: Transportation and Land Use Modeling URP 6905: Planning for Climate Change URP 6905: Urban Planning and Design Issues in China Research Interests Transportation and land use planning, modeling and policy Planning for climate change Information technology for planning International/China planning

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Ilir Bejleri

Ilir Bejleri

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Research Associate Professor
(352) 294-1489
AH 454
ilir@ufl.edu

Ph.D.,Architecture and Design, Polytechnic University, Tirana, Albania, 1994
B.A., Architecture, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania, 1987

Areas of Experitise
  • Geospatial Information Systems and Analysis
  • Urban Design
Research Interests
  • Urban Design
  • 3D Visual Urban Simulation
  • Planning & Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

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Abhinav Alakshendra

Abhinav Alakshendra

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Associate Professor and Director, Center for International Design and Planning
(352) 294-1488
AH 448
alakshendra@ufl.edu

Ph.D., Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 2012
M.A., Economics, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, India, 2005

Areas of Focus: Sustainability  Bio: Dr. Alakshendra’s research interests are mainly focused around the areas of urbanization, international development, and applied microeconomics in Southeast Asia. He is a trained Development Economist who uses cutting edge empirical research methods to understand complex socioeconomic problems. He is a recipient of many prestigious research grants including UKAID, Land and Housing Institute, Korea, and Florida Department of Transportation.

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Kristin Larsen

Kristin Larsen

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Professor
352-294-1482
AH 464
Klarsen@ufl.edu

Ph.D., Cornell University 2001
Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, 1990
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, University of Florida 1986

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Areas of Focus:

Planning History and Housing Policy

A key area of Dr. Larsen’s research focuses on members of the Regional Planning Association of America, prominent designers, urbanists, human ecologists, economists, and developers active from the 1920s through the 1950s whose work in regionalism, town building, design, and housing policy established the foundations of today’s sustainability and resilience initiatives. In addition, her research focuses on community engagement to enhance resilience in the face of neighborhood change within marginalized communities. She has published widely on housing policy, neighborhood planning, community engagement, social justice, historic preservation, and planning history.

Bio:

Kristin Larsen, FAICP, Ph.D. (Cornell), MAURP (Florida), BSBA (Florida) is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, a Fellow in the American Institute of Certified Planners, and the former Chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP) and Director of the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning (SLA&P) at the University of Florida. Among the projects she focused on when she worked as a land use and housing planner for the City of Orlando during the 1990s was a neighborhood revitalization project within the historic African American community of Parramore. This professional planning experience inspired her to earn her doctoral degree focused on city and regional planning, planning history, cultural geography, and historic preservation. At UF she has developed new courses in housing policy, historic preservation, and interdisciplinary studies in planning and landscape architecture.

In addition to her responsibilities as a professor, Dr. Larsen served in various leadership positions in the college for over 10 years, including directing the urban and regional planning graduate online degree program, chairing the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and directing the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning. Notably, she led and coordinated the development of the first fully online graduate degree in urban and regional planning in the U.S., shepherded the department through two accreditation reviews, both securing the maximum 7-year accreditation period with the most recent review including the online delivery of the URP graduate degree, currently the only fully online accredited graduate planning degree in the U.S.

Dr. Larsen’s research on Clarence S. Stein and his colleagues in the Regional Planning Association of America alone has resulted in sixteen publications and numerous presentations at national and international conferences. This research focus includes an examination of the legacy of the Regional Planning Association of America on the 100th anniversary of their founding and her biography of noted community architect Clarence S. Stein. Her peer reviewed research has also appeared in Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Planning History, Housing Studies, Planning Perspectives, and Urban Studies. She has secured over $1 million in internal and external grants awarded as either Principal or Co-Principal Investigator, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Urban Scholars Fellowship and a State of Florida Division of Historical Resources Grant. Her examination of the intellectual history of the Regional Planning Association of America continues with her upcoming biography of architect, landscape architect, planner, and housing advocate Henry Wright.

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