Carolina S. SarmientoAssociate Professor of Civil Society & Community Studiesshe/her/ella

My work is situated at the intersection of studying urban development, governance, and the creation and destruction of cultural spaces in working class communities of color. My research and practice focus on learning from the grassroots as they respond to various forms of inequality and injustice while still building transformative and creative alternatives. In critically examining urban development in low-income communities of color, I center everyday responses that are central to community-based planning, transnational development, and the creation of new democratic processes and spaces.

Through my research and teaching I build collaborations with organizations at the forefront of various grassroots movements and community-based initiatives. I am currently working in collaboration with VOCES de la Frontera, Wisconsin’s leading immigrant rights and low-wage workers center, on a community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) project that addresses significant threats to the health and safety of Wisconsin’s essential workers. My teaching collaborations range from working with Freedom Inc on the People’s Budget in order to shift public investment to developing the Just Dining Guide with Worker Justice Wisconsin (formerly the Worker Rights Center) in the fight for more just working conditions.

Selected Publications

Kim, A. J., Knapp, C., & Sarmiento, C. (2025). Notes on Abolition in Planning: A Framework for Listening. Journal of Planning Literature, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/08854122241298596

Sarmiento, C. S. (2024). Distinction, difference, and the place (s) of Latine working-class immigrants in the creative city. Urban Geography, 46(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2024.2352309

Sarmiento, C. (2022). Not diverse enough? Displacement, diversity discourse, and commercial gentrification in Santa Ana, California, a majority-Mexican city. Urban Studies, 59(9), 1782-1799. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980211020912

Sims, J. R., & Sarmiento, C. S. (2023). Squeezed in and pushed out: dual and contradictory displacements in Santa Ana, CA. City, 27(3-4), 294-320. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2023.2207248

Sarmiento, C. S. (2020). From Jails to Sanctuary Planning: Spatial Justice in Santa Ana, California. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 40(2), 196-209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X19893743

For a full list of publications, see Sarmiento’s CV.