Ana Paula Pimentel Walker
Ann Arbor,MI
Overview
4
4
years of professional experience
Work History
Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Michigan
01.2022 - Current
- (with tenure)
Education
PhD - socio-cultural Anthropology
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
San Diego, CA01.2013
MURP - Urban and Regional Planning
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Los Angeles, CA01.2005
M.A. - Latin American Studies
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA01.2005
J.D. - Brazil
University of Cruz Alta
01.1998
Awards
Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award, Sage and Urban Affairs Association, 2025, Calor e Moradia: Co-producing Passive Cooling Strategies and Promoting Health in Informal and Precarious Settlements, Finalist: XIII Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, “CLIMAS: Acciones para el buen vivir.” Lima, Peru, 2024, Collaborative Practice Award. “Activate, Articulate, Advocate: for the Right to Occupy, Hold Ground, and Upgrade”, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, ACSA, 2022, Faculty Excellence Award (elected by students), Urban and Regional Planning Program, Taubman College, University of Michigan, 2020-2021 & 2021-2022, WINNER Graduate Student Project Award: “Self-Management Law, Now! Fostering Community-Owned, Permanently Affordable and Sustainable Housing in Brazil!”, The American Planning Association, 2021, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Spirit Award, MLK Faculty Spirit Award, University of Michigan North Campus Deans, 2020
Publications
- Pimentel Walker, A. P., Sanga, N., Gonzalez Benson, O., & Yoshihama, M. A Community Organizational Approach to Improving the Social Determinants of Refugee Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. Journal of Community Practice, 33(1), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2023.2466524, 2025
- Pimentel Walker, A.P., Arguero de Alarcón, M., Friendly, A. Barbosa, B.R.
- Ribeiro de Souza, M.
- Nobre, S.
- Activist Co-production for the Right to Occupy, Hold Ground, and Upgrade. Planning Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177/14730952231213952, 2024
- Pimentel Walker, A.P. & Friendly, A. Master planning ‘as a verb’: enforcing participatory planning through the Brazilian courts. Planning Practice & Research https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2024.2402127, 2024
- Gonzalez Benson, O., Judelsohn, A., Pimentel Walker, A.P., et al. Shifting Interorganizational Relations and the COVID-19 Pandemic as External Events: An Analysis of Organizational Fields, Capital, and Habitus. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-024-00464-5, 2024
- Pimentel Walker, A.P., Sanga, N., Benson, O.G., Yoshihama, M., & Routté, J. (2022). Participatory Action Research in Times of Coronavirus Disease 2019: Adapting Approaches with Refugee-Led Community-Based Organizations. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action 16(2), 69-76. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/861587, 2022
- Gonzalez Benson, O., Asadi, L., Pimentel Walker, A. P., Yoshihama, M. Cultural–legal brokering and the safety of refugee-serving institutions upon resettlement. International Journal of Social Welfare, 31(3), 260–262. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12602, 2022
- Gonzalez Benson, O., Pimentel Walker, A.P., Ellis, J. M., Yoshihama, M., Usui, M., & Chang, S. Y. (2022). Piloting participatory action research: Community empowerment to education pathways of Congolese refugee youth. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 28(3), 316-324. https://doi.org/proxy.lib.umich.edu/10.1037/cdp0000425, 2022
- Pimentel Walker, A.P., Sanga, N., Gonzalez, O., Yoshihama, M., & Kelly, A. (2022). Refugee-Led Organizations’ Crisis Response during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Refugee Canada’s Journal of Refugees, 38(1), 67-77. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40879, 2022
- Friendly, A. & Pimentel Walker, A.P. Legacy participation and the blurred history of racialized spaces: Hypermodern revitalization in Rio de Janeiro’s port area. Urban Studies, 59(6), 1416-1432. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980211008284, 2022
- Pimentel Walker, A.P., Friendly, A. The Value of Participatory Urban Policy Councils: Engaging Actors through Policy Communities. Planning and Urbanization 33(2):436-455. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F09654278211031705, 2021
- Pimentel Walker, A.P., Sanga, N., Gonzalez, O., Yoshihama, M. Risk Communication and Institutional Racism: The Protective Health Effect of Refugee Community Organizations, Health Security, 19(S1): 89-94. (Johns Hopkins Centers for Health Security). https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2021.0059, 2021
- Gonzalez, O.; Pimentel Walker, A.P., Grassroots Refugee Community Organizations: In Search of Participatory Urban Governance in U.S. Resettlement Policy and Practice. Journal of Urban Affairs, 43(6): 890-908 (A Journal of the Urban Affairs Association) https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2021.1874425, 2021
- Pimentel Walker, A.P., Arguero de Alarcón, M.; Peña Machado, M.F.; Avanci, J. The Judicialization of the Planning Process in São Paulo’s Informal Settlements: Enforcing Housing and Environmental Rights through the Courts? Journal of Planning Education and Research, https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X20931546, 2020
- Gonzalez, O.; Pimentel Walker, A.P. Yoshihama, M.; Burnett, C. Asadi, L. A Framework for Culturally Health Services Provided by Refugee and Immigrant-run CBOs: Language Assistance, Systems Navigation, and Hands-on Support. Journal of Community Medicine and Health Education 9(6):5-15, 2020
- Pimentel Walker, A.P. and Arguero de Alarcón, M. The Competing Social and Environmental Functions of Private Urban Land: The Case of an Informal Land Occupation in São Paulo’s South Periphery. Sustainability 11(10): 4160, https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114160, 2019
- Steil, C.A. and Pimentel Walker, A.P. Religious Belonging in the Hispanic Catholic Charismatic Movement in San Diego. Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Science 1(3): 1-9. https://doi.org/10.15406/jhaas.2017.01.00018, 2017
- Pimentel Walker, A.P. Self-Help or Public Housing? Lessons from Co-Managed Slum Upgrading via Participatory Budget. Habitat International 55: 58-66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2016.02.005, 2016
- Pimentel Walker, A.P. The Conflation of Participatory Budgeting and Public–Private Partnerships in Porto Alegre, Brazil: The Construction of a Working-Class Mall for Street Hawkers. Economic Anthropology 2(1): 165-184. (A Journal of the Society for Economic Anthropology). https://doi.org/10.1002/sea2.12023, 2015
- Pimentel Walker, A.P. Embodied Identity and Political Participation: Squatters’ Engagement in the Participatory Budget in Brazil. Ethos 41(2): 199-222. (A Journal of the Society of Psychological Anthropology). https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12015, 2013
POLICY REPORTS
- Comparative Analysis of Non-Profit Housing Legal Frameworks in five countries: Austria, Brazil, England, Netherlands, and South Africa: Urban Legal Case Studies, Volume 12, 164 pages. Publisher: UN-Habitat. https://unhabitat.org/comparative-analysis-of-non-profit-housing-legal-frameworks-in-five-countries-austria-brazil, 2023
- Assessment of Zimbabwe Legislation through the Urban Law Module of the Law and Climate Change Toolkit. (ZIMBABWE, Volume1), 102 pages. Publisher: UN-Habitat: https://unhabitat.org/assessment-of-zimbabwe-legislation-through-the-urban-law-module-of-the-law-and-climate-change, 2022
- Assessment of Namibia Legislation through the Urban Law Module of the Law and Climate Change Toolkit. NAMIBIA (Volume 2), 100 pages. Publisher: UN-Habitat https://unhabitat.org/assessment-of-namibia-legislation-through-the-urban-law-module-of-the-law-and-climate-change, 2022
- Assessment of Malawi Legislation through the Urban Law Module of the Law and Climate Change Toolkit. MALAWI (Volume 3), 108 pages. Publisher: UN-Habitat https://unhabitat.org/assessment-of-malawi-legislation-through-the-urban-law-module-of-the-law-and-climate-change, 2022
SELECTED GRANTS
- Mobilizing Knowledge for Climate Action: Design Research for Passive Cooling Strategies in Self-Built Homes, Vice-Provost Office for Research, $75,000, 2023
- Linking Design Research for Passive Cooling Strategies in Self-Built Homes with Low-Income Communities to Improve Health Outcomes from Extreme Heat, Pressing Matters Grant, Taubman College & Center for Global Health Equity, The University of Michigan, $20,000, 2023
- Eviction Diversion and Rental Emergency Rental Assistance Programs: the work of United Community Housing Coalition (UCHC) in Detroit’s Tenant-Landlord Court, Urban Institute Housing Crisis Research Collaborative (External), $30000, 2023
- The Invisible Climate Warriors: Intersectional Approaches to Community Organizing in Slum Upgrading, Pressing Matters, Taubman College, $20,000, 2022
RECENT COURSES
- URP523 Participatory Planning & Community Development
- URP542 Comparative Environmental Planning
- URP 603 Capstone Service-Learning Studios (2024 project)
- Michigan Association of Planning Outstanding Student Project Award
- Project Title: Amplifying the Voices of Quilombola Peoples through Sustainable, Community-Based Tourism & Cultural Preservation in Alcântara. Client-Partner: ATEQUILA, Associação do Território Quilombola de Alcântara, the Association of the Alcântara Ethnic Territory, Brazil
- URP 752 Global and Comparative Housing Policy
- URP503 Comparative Planning Law
- URP 570 Global and Comparative Planning
Languages
Spanish
Native or Bilingual
Portuguese
Native or Bilingual
Timeline
Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Michigan
01.2022 - Current
MURP - Urban and Regional Planning
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
M.A. - Latin American Studies
UCLA
J.D. - Brazil
University of Cruz Alta
PhD - socio-cultural Anthropology
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
Similar Profiles
Kara RoseboroughKara Roseborough
Lecturer, Department of Dance at University of MichiganLecturer, Department of Dance at University of Michigan
William BeardsleyWilliam Beardsley
Student Athlete at University of MichiganStudent Athlete at University of Michigan
Bobbi RobertsonBobbi Robertson
Building Services Manager at University of MichiganBuilding Services Manager at University of Michigan
Jason ThompsonJason Thompson
Assistant Manager at University of MichiganAssistant Manager at University of Michigan
Ariam AbrahamAriam Abraham
Software Engineer at IntraFiSoftware Engineer at IntraFi