Taubman College’s Ana Paula Pimentel Walker, associate professor in urban and regional planning, received the 2025 Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award for her work on participatory and community-centered urban planning. Co-sponsored by SAGE and the Urban Affairs Association (UAA), the award is given to scholars whose research shows a direct connection between activism, scholarship, and engagement with community.

Pimentel Walker investigates how disenfranchised communities engage with urban governance. Rather than focus on including communities in the existing planning process, she works to expand the ability of community members to co-create and meaningfully contribute to urban planning projects. 

The UAA identified a unique characteristic of Pimentel Walker’s work: to make her findings accessible to the community and center the perspectives of marginalized communities. Currently, Pimentel Walker is working on three research projects about participatory urban governance in Brazil, housing and environmental degradation, and the success of migrant-run organizations in Michigan. 

The award will be formally presented to Pimentel Walker at the International Conference on Urban Affairs in April, 2025. The conference will bring together over 900 scholars from 55+ countries and over 20 fields of study. Pimentel Walker’s work will also be honored at a special session during the conference on Thursday, April 17. 

-Story by Joshua Nicholson