Josh Newton, PhD
Professor of Chemistry
I am a postdoctoral scholar at the Homelessness Hub in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at University of California, San Diego. My research is broadly focused on sustainable, equitable, just housing policy and community development. My work relies on critical perspectives and mixed methods to examine topics such as housing precarity and informality in urban and rural U.S. communities, community wealth building housing models, philanthropic development and governance, and the role of breweries in community development. My research also informs my teaching in the areas of urban history, urban design and planning theory, social theory, and race/ethnicity in cities.
Beyond my academic work, I engage the public through writing, speaking, and advocacy. I co-founded the San Diego Community Wealth Building Coalition, an organization of local academics and practitioners that is using education and policy advocacy to expand community land trusts and cooperatives in San Diego and the broader region.