Dr. Deland Chan (Chinatown Community Development Center) has been selected to receive the 2026 Janet Smith Emerging Activist Scholar Research Award. This award is sponsored by the Voorhees Family and Individual Donors.
This annual award recognizes an emerging activist scholar whose research record shows a direct relationship between activism, scholarship, and engagement with community(ies). This award honors the memory of Dr. Janet Smith, Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, and co-director of the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement. As an expert in local and national housing policy, Janet dedicated her career to fighting alongside community groups for a right to place and representation within the city. Janet brought to this work a deep respect for the self-determination of communities. Working alongside communities and activists, she brought her own astute analysis – and fierce critique – of the political economy of housing production in the United States.
Janet’s energy, enthusiasm, and determination were inspirational to all that worked with her. This award honors Janet’s contributions as an activist scholar as well as her commitment to supporting emerging scholars in developing their own models for community engagement and activism.
AWARD COMMITTEE ASSESSMENT
The UAA Janet Smith Emerging Activist Scholar Committee selects Deland Chan as the 2026 awardee for work that exemplifies urban activist scholarship. Her work transcends her own research, demonstrating sustained leadership, depth of experience, and a deep commitment to mentoring the next generation of justice-oriented scholars and practitioners, particularly in Chinatown and other marginalized urban communities. Through community-engaged research and institutional leadership, she advances community priorities while empowering residents to participate meaningfully in the research process and equipping them with tools to self-advocate and shape future goals.
Dr. Chan’s innovative scholarship bridges theory and practice, generating rigorous insights into structural inequity, place-based policy, and community power. Her publications reach diverse audiences, from peer-reviewed journals to essays accessible to the broader public. By centering lived experience and serving as a translator between scholarship and activism, she strengthens the continuity and impact of urban activist scholarship. We believe that Deland Chan is an emerging star in urban scholar activism, and is someone whose work we’ll look to help guide our own community-based research.
AWARD RECIPIENT BIO
Deland Chan earned a DPhil (PhD) in Sustainable Urban Development from the University of Oxford, where she was a Clarendon Scholar. Now serving as the Director of Research at the Chinatown Community Development Center, she leads research initiatives that inform community advocacy, policy, and equitable planning practice.
Dr. Chan previously worked as a professional planner and served on the San Francisco Planning Commission, experiences that inform her community-engaged research and teaching. She has taught in Stanford University’s Program on Urban Studies and launched experiential learning seminars bringing U.S. and global students together to examine sustainable urbanization and human-centered city design in real-world contexts. Her research centers on housing, infrastructure, land use, transportation policy, and the lived experiences of marginalized urban communities, and her work has been published in Cities and the Journal of Planning Education and Research. Outside of her professional work, Deland enjoys spending time with her family and enjoying the outdoors in the Bay Area.
AWARD PRESENTATION
The formal presentation of this award will be made at the upcoming International Conference on Urban Affairs in Chicago, Illinois. The theme of this year’s conference is No Little Plans: Realizing Urban Futures in Times of Crisis. The conference will convene over 1100 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 29, 2026; 3:00 – 4:15pm.
AWARD COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Chandra Ward, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Chair); Kenton Card, University of Minnesota; Jordy Coutin, University of Southern California; Kuni Kamizaki, University of British Columbia; William Peterman, Chicago State University (retired)
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.
