Specialization Area: 

Community Economic Development, Global Development

Biography:

Gregory F. Randolph is an Assistant Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning. His research examines the challenges to inclusive urban development posed by 21st-century dynamics of spatial inequality, with a focus on labor markets, human mobility, and socio-technical transitions. His book, Urbanization from Within: A Theory of Urban Transition from 21st-Century India (Oxford University Press), reveals how settlements far from metropolitan regions are urbanizing through internal population growth and socio-economic change, offering an alternative account of contemporary urbanization that challenges conventional narratives of migration and industrialization.

Professor Randolph is also involved in two other areas of research. As a research lead for FutureWORKS, a five-year program on the future of work in the Global South, he is examining the impact of decarbonization on urban and regional labor markets. And through collaboration with community-based partners in Atlanta, he is investigating the possibilities for collective ownership models to address commercial gentrification and give communities more capacity to govern their public spaces and neighborhood economies.

Dr. Randolph works with both governmental and non-profit institutions in their efforts to create inclusive urban economies. A decade ago, he co-founded the Just Jobs Network, a non-profit institute based in New Delhi that advises governments across the Global South on labor and employment policies. He is a Senior Research Fellow at Kindred Futures, an Atlanta-based organization working to build collective wealth in Black communities in the American South. He has also served as a policy advisor to the Los Angeles City Council and consults with multilateral organizations such as the World Bank on issues of sustainable development.

Professor Randolph's research has been supported by a range of foundations, universities, and government institutions: the International Development Research Centre (Government of Canada), London School of Economics, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, U.S. Departments of Education and State, USC Lusk Center, Solidarity Center, and German Marshall Fund. He has been awarded the Fulbright-Hays and Fulbright-Nehru research fellowships. His opinion writing has appeared in media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Indian Express, and Jakarta Post.

Dr. Randolph obtained his Ph.D. in urban planning and development from the University of Southern California and his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar. He speaks Hindi and Bahasa Indonesia.

Teaching Interest:

Professor Randolph's teaching focuses on the social and economic dynamics of cities and urbanization processes. His courses analyze the role of planning in addressing social and spatial inequalities, within the United States and around the world.

Research Interest:

Professor Randolph's research applies tools and concepts from economic geography to understand the challenges to inclusive urban development in the 21st century. He studies how contemporary transformations in labor markets, human mobility, and socio-technical systems influence uneven development at multiple scales and structure possibilities for urban planning and policy.

List of Recent Scholarly Work:

Books

Randolph, G.F. (2026). Urbanization from Within: A Theory of Urban Transition from 21st-Century India. New York: Oxford University Press.

Articles

Randolph, G.F. & Jamme, H. (2026). Beyond Chicago: Framing and Elevating Urban Social Science. Dialogues in Urban Research.

Randolph, G. F., & Dewan, S. (2025). Driving uneven development: The emerging geography of India’s electric vehicle transition. Applied Geography, 183, 103724. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103724

Randolph, G. F., & Dutta, A. (2025). Services-Led Structural Transformation and Translocal Householding. Economic Geography, 101(4), 240–267. https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2025.2543506

Randolph, G. F. (2024). Planning the “Ruralopolis” in India: Circular Migration, Survival Entrepreneurship, and the Subversive Non-Farm Economy. Journal of Planning Education and Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X231221996

Randolph, G. F., & Deuskar, C. (2024). Urbanization beyond the Metropolis: Planning for a Large Number of Small Places in the Global South. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 0739456X2097170. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X20971705.

Randolph, G. F. (2023). Does urbanization depend on in-migration? Demography, mobility, and India’s urban transition. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X231180609

Randolph, G. F., & Storper, M. (2023). Is urbanization in the Global South fundamentally different? Comparative global urban analysis for the 21st century. Urban Studies, 60(1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980211067926

Degrees with Year of Award:

Ph.D. (Urban Planning and Development), University of Southern California, May 2023

B.A. (South Asian Studies), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, May 2012