Divya Chandrasekhar, Ph.D.
Chair & Associate Professor
Department City & Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah
Divya Chandrasekhar is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of City & Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah. She has expertise in community recovery from disasters. Her research has examined post-disaster community participation and capacity building, networking and coordination among recovery institutions, and disaster recovery policy in South and Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and the U.S. Dr. Chandrasekhar is a member of the Utah State Hazard Mitigation Team, of the Roundtable on Risk and Resilience of Extreme Events (Resilient America) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and served on the former Utah Seismic Safety Commission. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Transportation and Communities, the Department of the Interior, and the Natural Hazards Center at Boulder. Dr. Chandrasekhar received her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in physical planning from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.
Session(s):
Well Heard Communities: Tools to Enhance Civic Engagement »
APA Utah 2026 Spring Conference: Bryce Canyon, April 9, 2026 11:30 amCivic engagement is a core philosophy of the planning profession, but creating meaningful engagement is easier said than done! This session will draw upon the experiences of planning practitioners with a record of successful civic engagement within Utah and across the country. Panelists will discuss strategies and tools they have used in their own work, the challenges they have navigated, and the groundwork that must be done to build inclusive, resilient places.
= Keynote
