Mario R. Hernández

Education

PhD, The New School for Social Research, 2019
MA, The New School for Social Research, 2009
BA, University of California, Berkeley, 2004

Professional Interests

Professor Mario Hernandez is an urban sociologist whose research examines how race, public policy, economic development, and culture shape cities and the built environment. His work focuses on gentrification and displacement, community-centered development, cultural preservation, public art, and community-led approaches to land and housing. He teaches courses on race and inequality, urban sociology and development, gentrification, and art.

Additional Information

Professor Hernandez’s scholarship examines how cities are shaped by the interaction of urban planning, economic development, culture, and racial justice. His book, Bushwick’s Bohemia: Art and Revitalization in Gentrifying Brooklyn, explores how decades of discriminatory planning and urban policy contributed to the decline of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood and how artists, creative industries, developers, and policymakers collectively reshaped the neighborhood through its revitalization. Situating gentrification within broader processes of neoliberal urban redevelopment, the book uses a network-based analysis to examine relationships among key neighborhood stakeholders and demonstrates the central role of public policy in shaping urban change.

His current research focuses on community-led strategies for addressing displacement and advancing more equitable forms of urban development. His projects examine historically marginalized communities in West Oakland, Brooklyn, Boston, and Saint-Denis, France, with particular attention to community land trusts, cultural preservation, public art, and other community-based approaches to land, housing, and economic development. Through collaborative research with community organizations, Professor Hernandez explores how communities can build collective power and develop alternatives to speculative real estate development.

Professor Hernandez is also co-developing the Community Innovation Lab, an interdisciplinary research and action hub that brings together scholars, community organizations, artists, and policymakers to identify, document, and share community-led strategies for addressing displacement. The Lab creates a collaborative space for advancing community-centered planning, exchanging knowledge across cities, and supporting approaches that preserve affordable housing, strengthen cultural identity, and promote more equitable urban development.

In addition to his research and teaching, Professor Hernandez is engaged in public service through the arts and cultural policy. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Oakland Art Murmur and currently serves on the City of Oakland’s Public Art Advisory Commission.