Juan Camilo Osorio

Pratt Institute Distinguished Teacher Award – 2023-2024

My work emphasizes the tension between cities, inequality, and environmental conflict. I focus on the political economy of climate adaptation planning and disaster recovery, studying urban conflicts where social and environmental inequality exacerbate each other. In particular, I study the decentralization of power, institutions and planning processes — and its impacts on social, economic and environmental transformation to build equity and justice.

As Associate Professor at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, I leverage my professional and research experience in New York City to help decolonize academic activity and engage students in applied research and planning collaborations with grassroots leaders to nurture mutual learning and explore the ethical and political complexity of urban planning work. As Research Consultant with the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, I help expand mutual research infrastructure for Participatory Action Research (PAR) and trans-disciplinary collaboration to map and measure the risk of chemical dislodgement in industrial waterfronts under severe weather. As Co-Investigator with the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, I study community-led low-carbon development strategies (LCDS) to support local frontline communities in monitoring, protecting, restoring and pioneering sustainable uses of natural resources, as a new source of income, wealth and security.

My teaching and research reflect on seventeen years of professional urban planning practice. While working as Director of Research for the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, I helped design policy and research on environmental and climate justice issues affecting low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. I also worked as Senior Planner and Geographic Information Systems Analyst at The Municipal Art Society Planning Center, where I used spatial information to support research and advocacy on community-based planning, urban design and historic preservation. Before moving to New York, I worked with the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, a non-profit agency based in Holyoke, Massachusetts — using GIS to study systematic and procedural impediments to fair housing in the central and western regions of that state.

• PhD (completed, degree expected 02/2025):
  Department of Urban Studies & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• MRP, Master of Regional Planning:
  Department of Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
• Bachelor of Architecture:
  Facultad de Artes, Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Bogotá

Published Peer Reviewed Publications:

• Knox-Hayes, J., Osorio, J. C., Stamler, N., Dombrov, M., Winer, R., Smith, M. H., Rosenzweig, C. (2023) The Compound Risk of Heat and COVID-19 in New York City: Riskscapes, Physical and Social Factors, and Interventions. Local Environment. VOL. 28, NO. 6, 699–727.
• Yonder, A., Narciso, M., Osorio, J. C., Hanhardt, E. (2020). Pedagogy Built on Working with Communities: A First Semester Core Course. In Frank, A., da Rosa Pires, A. (eds.), “Teaching Urban and Regional Planning: Innovative Pedagogies in Practice”. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Dawson, R.J., Khan, M.S.A., Gornitz, V., Lemos, M. F., Atkinson, L., Pullen, J., and Osorio, J. C. (2018). Urban Areas in Coastal Zones. In Rosenzweig, C., W. Solecki, P. Romero-Lankao, S. Mehrotra, S. Dhakal, and S. Ali Ibrahim (eds.), Climate Change & Cities: Second Assessment Report of Urban Climate Change Research Network. Cambridge University Press. New York. 319–362.
• Reckien, D., Lwasa, S., Satterthwaite, D., McEvoy, D., Creutzig, F., Montgomery, M., Schensul, D., Balk, D., and Khan, I. (Contributing authors) Fernandez, B.; Brown, D.; Osorio, J. C.; Tovar-Restrepo, M.; De Sherbinin, A.; Feringa, W.; Sverdlik, A.; Porio, E.; Nair, A.; McCormick, S.; Bautista, E. (2018). Equity, environmental justice, and urban climate change. In Rosenzweig, C., W. Solecki, P. Romero-Lankao, S. Mehrotra, S. Dhakal, and S. Ali Ibrahim (eds.), Climate Change and Cities: Second Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network. Cambridge University Press. New York. 173–224.
• Madrigano, J., Osorio, J. C., Bautista, E., Chavez, R., Chaisson, C., Meza, E., Shih, R., Chari, R. (2018). Environmental Monitoring Recommendations for Fugitive Chemicals in Industrial Waterfront Communities Following Severe Weather Events. Environmental Justice 11(3), pp. 95-100.
• Bautista, E.; Hernandez, A.; Osorio, J. C.; Soto; P., (2017). Building a Resilient and Equitable City: How to Advance Environmental Justice Through the OneNYC Plan. Metropolitics – ELECTRONIC.
• Bautista, E., Hanhardt, E., Osorio, J. C.; Dwyer, N., (2015). New York City Environmental Justice Alliance Waterfront Justice Project. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 20(6), pp. 664-682.
• Bautista, E., Osorio, J. C.; Dwyer, N., (2015). Building Climate Justice and Reducing Industrial Waterfront Vulnerability. Social Research: An International Quarterly 82(3), pp. 821-838.

OFFICE HOURS: Tuesdays, 11-1pm by appointment via STARFISH