Hom, Laureen

Associate Professor, Department of Urban & Regional Planning

Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program Director

E-mail

laureen.hom@sjsu.edu

Education

Ph.D. in Planning, Policy, and Design (Asian American Studies emphasis), University of California, Irvine

M.P.H. in Sociomedical Sciences (Urbanism and the Built Environment concentration), Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

B.A. in Anthropology and Art History, University of California, Los Angeles

Bio

As an interdisciplinary scholar, Laureen's research and teaching are at the intersection of urban studies, ethnic studies, public administration, and public policy. Her expertise is in qualitative methods, and she uses critical frameworks to examine community development, gentrification, and neighborhood politics in racialized spaces, with a particular focus on the Asian American experience in California. Her research projects have examined gentrification politics in Los Angeles Chinatown; the growth of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities across Orange County, California; and the history of the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco Chinatown. Her current work continues to examine how local communities assert power and control in urban politics and development, with a specific interest in the formalization of community land trusts and the neoliberalization of community development approaches.

Prior to her academic career, Laureen worked in program management, evaluation, and community-engaged collaborative research in health services and non-profit organizations serving unhoused and immigrant communities in San Francisco and New York. She currently sits on the board of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California and is a member of the Los Angeles Chinatown Community Land Trust.

Laureen's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals spanning different disciplines, including Asian American studies, political science, public administration, public health, sociology, urban planning, and urban studies. She has also co-authored reports and practiioner essays on various policy issues facing Asian American communities, including civil rights, education, public health, and urban development/revitalization projects. In June 2024, she published her book with UC Press, The Power of Chinatown: Searching for Spatial Justice in Los Angeles, which was based on her ethnographic research on community politics and gentrification in Los Angeles Chinatown since the 1970s.

Select Publications

Books

Hom, L.D. (2024). The Power of Chinatown: Searching for Spatial Justice in Los Angeles. Oakland: University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520391222

Refereed Journal Articles

Hom, L.D. (2023) Revitalizing Chinatown for a new generation: The community politics of the business improvement district. Journal of Urban Affairs. DOI:10.1080/07352166.2023.2192939 (advance online publication)

Hom, L.D. (2022). The racial formation of Asian American non-profit work in Orange County, California. Public Integrity, 24(6), 600-613. DOI: 10.1080/10999922.2022.2040794

Hom, L.D. (2022) Symbols of gentrification? Narrating displacement in Los Angeles Chinatown. Urban Affairs Review, 58(1), 196-228. DOI: 10.1177/1078087420954917 (advance online publication 2020)

Rendón, M.G., Aldana, A., & Hom, L.D. (2020). Children of Latino immigrants framing race: Making sense of criminalisation in a colour-blind era. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(11), 2407-2425, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1486181 (advance online publication 2018)

Sim, S.C., Zhou, X.D., Hom, L.D., Chen, C., & Sze, R. (2011). Effectiveness of pre-counseling genetic education workshops at a large urban community health center serving low-income Chinese American women. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 20(6), 593-608. DOI: 10.1007/s10897-011-9397-2

Refereed Book Chapters

Hom, L.D. (2022). Displacing Los Angeles Chinatown: Racialization and development in an Asian American space. In E.R. Gonzalez, M. Zuniga, A.C. Hernandez, & R. Torres (eds.), The Urban Question: Gentrification, Displacement, and Alternative Futures (pp. 60-72). New York: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9780429341809

Hom, L.D. (2013). The Chinese Hospital of San Francisco: How the early San Francisco Chinese mobilized to build the Chinatown community. In G.J. Yoo & M.N. Le (eds.), Handbook of Asian American Health (pp. 353-362). New York: Springer Publishing Co. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-2227-3_26

Hom, L.D., & Kwon, S. (2009). Complementary and alternative medicine. In E.W. Chen & G.J. Yoo (eds.), Encyclopedia of Asian American Issues Today (pp. 301-306). Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group. (Link)

Refereed Essays & Commentaries

Hom, L.D., Kafai, S., & Pacleb, J.A. (2024) Femme labor(ing) for Asian American Studies/Ethnic Studies: Women of color faculty reflect on the first years of the AB 1460 implementation. AAPI Nexus: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Policy, Practice, and Community, 21(1&2), 49-68. (Link)

Lee, C., Flores, N. & Hom, L.D. (2024) Learning from Asian Americans: Implications for the field of planning. Journal of Planning Education & Research, 44(2), 535-540. DOI: 10.1177/0739456X211006768 (advance online publication 2021)

Book Reviews

Hom. L.D. (2023). Review of Koreatown, Los Angeles: Immigration, Race, and the American Dream by S.S-H. Lee. Contemporary Sociology, 53(1), 63-65. DOI: 10.1177/00943061231214609z

Hom, L.D. (2016). Review of The Politics of Belonging: Race, Public Opinion, and Immigration by N. Masuoka & J. Junn. Journal of Asian American Studies, 19(1), 133-135. DOI: 10.1353/jaas.2016.0002

Public Reports and Assessments

Proposed 76ers Arena Community Impact Analysis. (2024). Credited co-author with BJH Advisors and Sojourner Consulting. (Link)

Vo, L.T., & Hom, L.D. (2018). Transforming Orange County: Assets and needs of Asian Americans & Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Los Angeles: Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Orange County. (Link)

Media Mentions

Links

www.laureenhom.com