Justin Williams joined MPC in October 2018. He uses his extensive research and teaching experience to develop, coordinate, and advance MPC’s policy agenda across program areas.
Justin specializes in tying together disparate, complex ideas into coherent messages and strategies. Before joining MPC, he leveraged this skill as an academic researcher (PhD Political Science, University of Michigan, 2018), where he brought together diffuse academic literatures that should, but rarely do, talk to each other: urban planning, sustainability, and theories of justice. While completing his research, he taught classes in a similarly wide range of topics: wealth inequality, environmental politics, and the history of political thought. This diversity of interests enables him to draw connections across issue areas and to identify opportunities for policy and research intervention.
Justin is a recent Chicago transplant, having grown up in San Diego but lived elsewhere in the Midwest for the past 10 years. Last year, he moved to Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, into a charming, well-worn courtyard building – his favorite kind of Chicago architecture. He is a bread enthusiast and lover of urban parks; he is a shoe-in for a sunny weekend picnic.
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News
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- By Justin Williams and Christina Harris, Director of Land Use and Planning
- Sep 3, 2019
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Areas of expertise
- Government relations
- Comparative policy research
- Legislative tracking
Education
Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
B.A. in Environment and Social Change, Humboldt State University