Michael Mendez
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy UC Irvine
- Irvine CA
Michael Mendez has experience in the public and private sectors, where he consulted and actively engaged in the policymaking process.
Media
Social
Biography
During his time at UC Irvine and Yale, he has contributed to state and national research policy initiatives, including serving as an advisor to a California Air Resources Board member, and as a participant of the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s workgroup on “Climate Vulnerability and Social Science Perspectives.” Most recently, Michael was appointed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to the Board on Environmental Change and Society (BECS). He also serves as a panel reviewer for the National Academies of Sciences’ Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP).
Michael holds three degrees in environmental planning and policy, including a PhD from UC Berkeley’s Department of City and Regional Planning, and a graduate degree from MIT. His research on the intersection of climate change and communities of color has been featured in national publications including Urban Land (published by the Urban Land Institute); the Natural Resources Defense Fund Annual Report; the American Planning Association’s Planning Magazine; Green 2.0: Leadership at Work; USA Today; and Fox Latino News. His new book “Climate Change from the Streets,” published through Yale University Press (2020), is an urgent and timely story of the contentious politics of incorporating environmental justice into global climate change policy.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Paul Davidoff Book Award
2023
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP)
Practice and Outreach Award
2023
American Sociological Association (ASA) - Section on Environmental Sociology
Latino/a Water Pioneers, Leaders & Heroes Award
2023
Mujeres de la Tierra in collaboration with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Water Replenishment District
Harold & Margaret Sprout Award
2021
International Studies Association
Betty & Alfred McClung Lee Award
2021
Association for Humanist Sociology
Education
University of California, Berkeley
PhD
Science and Technology Studies and Environmental Policy
2015
Department of City and Regional Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MCP
Environmental Planning and Policy
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
California State University, Northridge
BA
Urban Studies and Planning
Links
Media Appearances
Millions of Americans don’t speak English. Now they won’t be warned before weather disasters.
Grist online
2025-04-14
It’s an issue even in states with a large population of Spanish speakers, like California. “It’s assumed that automatic translations of emergency information is commonplace and ubiquitous throughout California, but that’s not the case, particularly in our rural, agricultural areas where we have farmworkers and a large migrant population,” said Michael Méndez, a professor of environmental policy and planning at the University of California, Irvine. Méndez said that Spanish speakers have been targeted by misinformation during extreme weather.
The Growing Challenge of Urban Wildfires
National Academies online
2025-03-10
Multiple states — California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Montana, and others — are now facing increased wildfire risks, noted moderator Michael Méndez of the University of California, Irvine, whose research focuses on how climate change affects vulnerable populations. “The best way to cope is to better understand extreme wildfire events and the methods to prepare our communities, and especially those that are most at risk and socially vulnerable,” he said.
Trump Orders and Atmospheric Rivers: How Prepared Are California's Levees?
KQED online
2025-02-06
In California, this frequently means that low-income people, migrant farmworkers and undocumented people are disproportionately impacted, according to Michael Méndez, assistant professor of environmental policy and planning at UC Irvine. Many of those at risk are in the Central Valley, where hundreds of levees protect farmland and agricultural workers. “Our communities that are low income are not able to prepare or safeguard from these disasters because they’re not being provided with adequate resources to do so,” he said.
Farmworkers in the L.A. area have little to no protection from wildfire smoke
NPR online
2025-02-03
Farmworkers are left with little to no protection from wildfire smoke. L.A. County's recent fires put the lack of protection into perspective. … [UC Irvine assistant professor of urban planning and public policy] Michael Méndez has studied farmworkers for nearly a decade. He says farmworkers breathe in more toxic air because that work is similar to exercising. “They're breathing in more air because they're working fast. They're trying to get all the produce into the bins,” says Méndez.
Wildfire Impact on Latino Communities
Capital Pacific Radio - Insight with Vicki Gonzalez online
2025-01-21
The wildfires in Los Angeles County have had wide-ranging economic and social impacts on the surrounding area, where nearly half of residents identify as Latino according to the latest census data. Michael Méndez is an assistant professor of urban planning and public policy at UC Irvine who has studied the impact of disasters on Latino communities. He joins Insight to talk about how the wildfires can exacerbate vulnerabilities that face LA’s largest ethnic group, and what rebuilding after this disaster could look like.
Research Grants
2024 Seed Funding Opportunity for Mobilities to Mexico
University of California
2023-2024
2024 Integrated and Equitable Climate Action (Land Use Planning and environmental Justice)
University of California, Office of the President
2023 -2026
Newkirk Faculty Fellow
University of California Irvine, Newkirk Center for Science & Society $5000
2023-2024
Articles
Climate Change, Migration, and Health Disparities at and Beyond the US-Mexico Border
JAMA2024
In 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that weather-related events had displaced approximately 21.5 million people worldwide each year between 1999 and 2019, more than twice the number of people displaced by conflict and violence.
Connecting physical and social science datasets: challenges and pathways forward
Environmental Research Communications2023
The integration of physical and social science data can enable novel frameworks, methodologies, and innovative solutions important for addressing complex socio-environmental problems. Unfortunately, many technical, procedural, and institutional challenges hamper effective data integration—detracting from interdisciplinary socio-environmental research and broader public impact.
Understanding Challenges to Health Equity in Climate Action and Land Use Planning
American Journal of Public Health (AJPH)2023
Cole et al. (p. 185 in this issue of AJPH) argue that health equity is crucial to addressing the human health consequences of climate change. They underscore how effective climate action requires meaningful public engagement processes focused on increasing community capacity and the power to reduce health disparities in marginalized neighborhoods.
Only One Earth: Global health and climate justice on world environment day and beyond
World Medical & Health Policy2022
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened and exposed existing health vulnerabilities and the race and class disproportionalities associated with health, economic, and social resource access. COVID-19 has revealed the depths to which inequities are entrenched in our everyday lives and local, national, and global structures.
Queer and present danger: understanding the disparate impacts of disasters on LGBTQ+ communities
Disasters2021
LGBTQ+ communities comprise 16 million individuals in the United States, yet this population is often rendered invisible within disaster policies. Bias in federal disaster response programmes, a lack of recognition of LGBTQ+ families, and the prevalence of faith-based organisations in disaster relief services together heighten the risks that LGBTQ+ individuals face.
