About Irene Farah
Biography
I am an Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My research bridges political science and urban planning, exploring how political relationships across multiple levels of government and the organizational networks that mediate them shape urban governance, resource allocation, and the management of informal processes in cities.
Before beginning my doctoral studies at UC Berkeley, I worked at the Center for Spatial Data Science at the University of Chicago [https://spatial.uchicago.edu/] while completing my Master’s in Social Sciences, focusing on spatial approaches to food environments and retail research. I also worked at the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL)[ https://www.coneval.org.mx/] in Mexico City, contributing to poverty measurement and social development research.
Education
- Ph.D., City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley
- M.A., Social Sciences, University of Chicago
- B.A., Political Science, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
Research and publications
Ongoing and upcoming research
Research
My research spans two interconnected streams:
- The first examines multilevel governance, tracing how political alignment across government levels and non-state organizations (brokers), shape state capacity and produce divergent outcomes in the allocation of resources.
- The second studies the dynamics of urban governance using a combination of advanced computational techniques, spatial analysis, and ethnographic fieldwork.
Through comparative research in Mexico City and San Francisco, I examine how political intermediation and bureaucratic coordination shape the management of informal urban processes, revealing the durability or fragility of governance patterns across regime transitions and institutional reforms.
Teaching and advising
Classes taught
- UP 203: Cities & Urban Life