Dr. Igor Vojnovic (Michigan State University) has been selected as one of the recipients of the 2025 Scott Cummings Distinguished Editorial Service Award.
This award was established in April 2021 to highlight the significant contributions made by individuals in service to UAA’s publications. In the past, UAA has established awards that recognize scholarship and multiple service roles. However, the criteria for these awards do not adequately capture the unique contributions made by persons in editorial roles.
The award is named in honor of Scott Cummings, Editor of the Journal of Urban Affairs (JUA) from 1987 to 2005. At the beginning of Cummings’ 17-year tenure, the future of the journal was uncertain. By the end of his term, the journal had attained a solid reputation with articles by major urban scholars, was accepted by major bibliographic indexing systems, and had become part of the social science family of journals at Wiley Publishers, the largest academic publisher at the time. JUA eventually became part of the urban studies titles published by the global leader in academic journals, Taylor & Francis. UAA continued to expand its publications with the creation of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City in 2019 and the launch of the Rights to the City Book Series in 2023.
AWARD COMMITTEE ASSESSMENT
It is with great pleasure that the Publication Committee, in its capacity as the selection committee, recommends Igor Vojnovic as one of this year’s recipients of the Scott Cummings Distinguished Editorial Service Award in recognition of his service as Editor of the Journal of Urban Affairs.
Igor Vojnovic has enabled the journal to thrive and grow, both in terms of issues per year and in terms of the interdisciplinary and global perspective of urban affairs. This has been achieved through, among other things, the establishment of a new editorial board and an increase in the number of associate editors. He has also helped advance the next generation of scholars using the Publishing Fellows Program hosted by the JUA Scholar Development Editors. As a result, the impact factor has risen dramatically, and JUA has become a destination for urban scholarship.
AWARD RECIPIENT BIO
Igor Vojnovic earned his Ph.D. in Geography/Urban Planning at University of Toronto. He is currently a professor in the Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences, College of Social Science and holds adjunct status in Urban and Regional Planning, School of Planning, Design and Construction at Michigan State University (MSU). Before coming to MSU, he taught in departments of Public Policy, Urban Planning, Urban Design, and Geography at University of Toronto, Syracuse University, Dalhousie University, and Texas A&M University. He has worked in government and in private consulting firms as an urban policy analyst, city planner and urban designer. His research has been published in journals such as Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Studies, Environment and Planning A, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Ecological Economics, Transportation Research Part D, Landscape and Urban Planning, Journal of Urban Design, Urban Geography, Applied Geography, Health & Place, GIScience and Remote Sensing, Urban Affairs Review, and Environmental Conservation. Vojnovic has served in various editorial capacities within the Journal of Urban Affairs, including as Associate Editor (2010-2015), Editor (2015-2021) and Senior Associate Editor (2021-current).
AWARD PRESENTATION
The formal presentation of this award will be made at the upcoming International Conference on Urban Affairs in Vancouver, BC, Canada, at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre. The theme of this year’s conference is Urban Concentration: Challenges to Equity, Mobility, and Sustainability. The conference will convene over 900 participants from 55+ countries and representing 20+ fields of study. All award recipients will be formally recognized for their achievements during the Awards and Recognition Program on April 16, 2025; 3:00–4:15pm.
AWARD COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Hélène Bélanger, Université du Québec à Montréal (Chair); Mark Davidson, Clark University; Jonathan Davies, De Montfort University; Roger Keil, York University
ABOUT THE URBAN AFFAIRS ASSOCIATION
The Urban Affairs Association (UAA) is an international professional organization for 1000+ urban scholars, researchers, policy analysts, & public service providers. UAA is dedicated to creating interdisciplinary spaces for engaging in intellectual and practical discussions about urban life. Through theoretical, empirical, and action-oriented research, UAA fosters diverse activities to understand and shape a more just and equitable urban world.
In addition to hosting an annual conference, UAA sponsors ongoing professional development opportunities; Upsilon Sigma: The Urban Studies Honor Society; and two peer-reviewed journals, the Journal of Urban Affairs and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City. You can find UAA on the web, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Facebook, and X.
