laura.schmahmann at berkeley.edu
PhD Candidate
City and Regional Planning
University of California Berkeley
United States
Research projects
Unboxing the political economy of warehouse development in California
PhD dissertation, ongoing
My dissertation explores the political economy of warehouse development across California, through a mixed-methods cross-comparative study of two regional economies, the Inland Empire and North San Joaquin Valley. At the local level, my analysis focuses on land use politics in several cities where there is a concentration of warehouses. At the regional level, my analysis focuses on the role of the Inland Empire and North San Joaquin Valley as e-commerce regions in the context of California and the United States. I anticipate completing my PhD dissertation in May 2025.
Death of Downtown?
UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project, 2022
In this research, we examine visits over time to 62 downtown areas using mobile phone data, comparing the most recent activity (as of June 6, 2022) to pre-pandemic levels (in 2019). We find wide variation in the extent of recovery, with activity ranging from a low of 31% of pre-pandemic levels in San Francisco to a high of 155% in Salt Lake City. The key factors influencing recovery rates for downtowns are population and business densities, commuter mode shares particularly high car use, along with presence of industry sectors that are continuing to support remote work (such as tech and finance). To survive in the new era of remote work, downtowns will need to diversify their economic activity and land uses.
Minority-Owned Business Vulnerability
UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project, 2022
Given the ongoing challenges in obtaining data on minority-owned business vulnerability, the Urban Displacement Project conducted a multi-stage process that culminated in the creation of an online mapping tool which highlights vulnerable minority owned-businesses in the Bay Area and a set of explore the feasibility of a permanent infrastructure for collecting data, monitoring business health, and recommending policies to support BIPOC-owned businesses.