Ryan Anders Whitney

Estructura arquitectónica minimalista con rampas y escaleras en espiral iluminadas por luz natural desde aberturas superiores.
Planning equity, policy mobilities, urban governance, public policy, urban planning
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Description

Email: ryan.whitney@tec.mx

 

Research group
Sustainable Territorial Development.

Dr. Ryan Anders Whitney is a full-time research professor at the School of Architecture, Art, and Design at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus. His research focuses on the intersections between urban sustainability and equity, exploring the local and global dynamics that influence the circulation of policy models. Dr. Whitney holds a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of Toronto. Before joining Tecnológico de Monterrey, he was a visiting postdoctoral researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies (CIDER) at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. In the field of academics, his research has been published in journals such as the Journal of the American Planning Association, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Cities, Urban Geography, and Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, among others. Since 2020, he has coordinated the Policy Mobilities Working Group (PMWG), an international research group with over 40 members representing more than 30 research institutes and universities worldwide. Dr. Whitney is also an active professional, having worked on projects related to sustainable mobility, participatory urban planning, and inclusive climate action planning in Canada, Mexico, Colombia, France, and Tanzania.

Ryan Anders Whitney

  • Social urbanism and urban policy mobility at the margins of Latin American cities (Principal Investigator). Summary: Explores the adoption of escalators in Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City, based on the Medellín experience.
  • Alternative circulations? Situating policymaking, decoloniality, and urban models within Latin American cities (Primary Contact). Summary: Addresses the actors, networks, and geographies involved in the circulation of alternative and progressive urban policies and models in and from Latin America.
  • Walkability in Distrito Tlalpan (Co-Principal Investigator). Summary: Develops a decision support system that evaluates the impact of various interventions on sustainable mobility in the Tlalpan District, with a focus on equity.
     

  • 2024 - ISBNPA Pioneer Scholarship, Walking to School in Latin America.
  • 2024 - Ruta Azul, Ruta Azul Challenge, Walkability in Distrito Tlalpan.
  • 2023 - Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VERF), Walking as a Mode of Transport.
  • 2023 - Urban Studies Foundation, Seminar Series Award, Alternative circulations?
  • 2019 - John Horner Graduate Scholarship, University of Toronto.
  • 2019, 2018 - Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), Ontario Government.
  • 2018 - Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation Field Work Award, Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE).
     

  • Whitney, R.A. and Sotomayor, L. (2025). Peripheral best practices and the politics of visibility: Urban planning and social urbanism in Mexico City. Cities, 158, 1-12.

  • Navarrate Escobedo, D., Whitney, R.A. and Krstikj, A. (2025). Gentrificación transnacional y nómadas digitales en la zona central de la Ciudad de México [Transnational gentrification and digital nomads in central Mexico City]. EURE, 51(152), 1-23.

  • Whitney, R.A. and Ledsham, T. (2024). Engaging school communities in Active School Travel (AST): Community animators and participatory planning. The Journal of the American Planning Association, 90(2), 336-348.

  • Whitney, R.A. and López-García, D. (2023). Fast-track institutionalization: The opening of urban planning best practice agencies in Mexico City. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 41(3), 600-616.

  • Whitney, R.A., Hess. P. and Casas, C.S. (2023). Livable streets and global competitiveness: A survey of Mexico City. Journal of Planning and Education Research, 43(4), 783-798.

  • Lederman, J. and Whitney, R.A. (2023). What is progressive city building? Global expertise and local entanglements of in Latin America. Urban Geography, 44(8), 1723-1746.

  • Montero, S., Whitney, R.A. and Peñaranda, I. (2023). Experimental urban planning: Tensions behind the proliferation of urban laboratories in Latin American cities. Planning Theory & Practice, 24(4), 473-488.

  • Whitney, R.A. (2022). From here, there, and everywhere: English-language media outlets and the referencing of urban planning best practices in the Global South. The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 46(3), 466-479.

  • Whitney, R.A. (2022). Trendy urbanists, innovation laboratories, and best practices: In pursuit of ‘progressive’ urban planning in Mexico City. Town Planning Review 93(1), 15-35.

  • Hess, P., Gregg, K. and Whitney, R.A. (2019). Modernism, pedestrians, and public space: A century of North American street design. In T. Banerjee (ed.) and A. Loukaitou-Sideris (Ed.), Companion to Urban Design 2. London: Routledge.