Ali Modarres, Ph.D. is Professor and Director of Urban Studies, and Assistant Chancellor for Community Partnerships at the University of Washington Tacoma. He specializes in urban planning and public policy and his primary research and publication interests are socio-spatial urban dynamics and the political economy of urban design. He has published in the areas of immigration, race and ethnicity in American cities, social geography, transportation planning, environmental equity, and urban development and public policy. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning for eight years until 2017. Prior to that, he served as the Book Review Editor for the same journal. By the time he stepped down in 2017, the journal had achieved an impressive annual submission rate and an impact factor exceeding 2.5, making Cities the second highest-ranking urban planning/urban studies journal in the world. Ali is a long-term member of the Urban Affairs Association, a former UAA Board member, and winner of two best paper awards from the Journal of Urban Affairs, both of which focused on issues of race and ethnicity in American cities.
Andrew J. Greenlee Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Andrew’s research lies at the intersection of housing policy, poverty, and the social determinants of health. Andrew’s current research examines a range of urban economic, housing, and health disparities, using interdisciplinary perspectives to trace where and how individual and institutional agency drive outcomes. Andrew has published in areas as diverse as housing policy, urban environmental equity, law, epidemiology, and the institutional climate for diversity. His work appears in a range of journals including Cities, City and Community, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Urban Affairs Review. Andrew is a long time UAA member, served as a member of the Governing Board from to 2017 to 2023, and served as the Association’s Treasurer from 2022-2023.
Casey Wagner is the Managing Editor of both the Journal of Urban Affairs (2007-present) and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City (2019-present). He grew up in Iowa City, Iowa, and earned a BA in English at the University of Iowa. Casey previously served as the Editorial Assistant for the Journal of Regional Science (2007–2020). In 2024, Casey received the Scott Cummings Distinguished Editorial Service Award for his dedication, leadership, and commitment to the highest standards of editorial excellence for both of UAA’s journals.
