About

Brian Garcia PhD AICP is a city planner and urban designer with experience on large projects in planning, architecture, and urban design, in the United States, China, India, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia. His scholarship, teaching and practice focus on urban regeneration largely through public transport and affordable housing interventions for cities of cultural production and not just cities of consumption.

Brian is currently Visiting Assistant Professor in urban studies at Loyola Marymount University. From 2022 to 2024 Brian was a Visiting Scholar at the UCLA Department of Urban Planning. He also taught environmental analysis and environmental justice at Scripps College, Claremont and sustainable cities and environmental justice at Soka University. Brian was previously an Assistant Professor at Cal Poly Pomona teaching urban design, housing, social justice and international planning. Previously, Brian has taught at University College London in urban regeneration and the University of Southern California.

He has been a Virtual Fellow for the United States Department of State and has advised on the American Planning Association’s national guides on Smart Growth and Energy. Brian has provided design guidance for the City of Los Angeles and the LA Metro Transportation Authority. Brian’s work has been featured in the Venice Biennale.

Brian has received research funding for projects and analysis in land use, travel behavior and design from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), Cal Poly Pomona, University College London, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, University of Hong Kong and Yale University.

As an architectural designer and project manager Brian has worked on projects including Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, mixed-use residential developments, new towns across Asia and on Rem Koolhaas Office for Metropolitan Architects’ projects including their West Coast Prada expansion.

A native of Central California, Brian grew up aware of the importance of the environment and resource management. These experiences motivated his interest in environmental policy and planning challenges.

Brian earned BAs in Architecture and Art at UC Berkeley. At the University of Southern California, he completed a Master of Architecture and a Master of Public Art Studies. After working for planning agencies in Los Angeles, Brian pursued an MSc in International Planning and completed his studies for a PhD on international comparisons in transport, at the Bartlett, University College London under the supervision of Professor Sir Peter Hall.