Jennifer Wolch
Professor, Geography
Director, Center for Sustainable Cities

Contact Information

Office: KAP 404
Phone: (213)740-0521
E-mail: wolch@usc.edu

Education

 B.A. Anthropology, California State University, Hayward
 M.A. Geography, California State University, Hayward
 Ph.D. Urban Planning, Princeton University

Biography

Jennifer Wolch is Professor of Geography and Urban Planning, and Director of the Center for Sustainable Cities at the University of Southern California, where she teaches courses on Los Angeles, urban social problems, and sustainable cities. Wolch leads the Green Vision Plan for 21st Century Southern California project, a planning guide and decision support toolkit for habitat conservation, watershed health and recreational open space in the region. She has investigated problems of urban poverty, homelessness, and human service delivery. Her research also focuses on metropolitan sprawl, physical activity and urban planning and design, urban open space and environmental justice, and human-animal relations. Wolch is a past recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Center for Advanced Study in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study Center. She was awarded the Association of American Geographers’ award for research achievement in 2005.

Publications

Wolch, J. (2007). Green urban worlds. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 97 (2): 373–384

Wolch, J., J. P. Wilson, and J. Fehrenbach. (2005). Parks and Park Funding in Los Angeles: An Equity Mapping Analysis. Urban Geography 26(2):4-35.

Joassart-Marcelli, P., Wolch, J., Alonso, A., Sessoms, N. (2005). Spatial Segregation of the Poor in Southern California: A Multidimensional Analysis. Urban Geography 26(7):587–609.

 Wolch, J. R. (2005). Fiscal Consequences of Concentrated Poverty in a Metropolitan Region. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 95 (2)  pp. 336–356.

Wolch, J. R., Pastor, M., Dreier, P. (2004) Up Against the Sprawl: Public Policy and the Making of Southern California. University of Minnesota Press.

Wolch, J. (2002) Anima urbis. Progress in Human Geography 26: 721-742.

Wolch, J. R., Emel, J. (1998). Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity in the Nature-Culture Borderlands. Verso.

Wolch, J. R., Dear, M. J. (1993). Malign Neglect: Homelessness in an American City. Jossey Bass Wiley.

 Wolch, J. R. (1990). The Shadow State: Government and Voluntary Sector in Transition. Foundation Center.

 Wolch, J. R., Dear, M. J. (1989). The Power of Geography: How Territory Shapes Social Life. Unwin Hyman.

Dear, M. J.,  Wolch, J. R. (1987). Landscapes of Despair: From Deinstitutionalization to Homelessness. Princeton University Press.