School of Planning, Design and Construction

Danna Gutiérrez-Lanza is a PhD Candidate and Graduate Research Assistant in the Urban and Regional Planning program.

She is a housing scholar with dual training in architecture and sociology and a record of contribution to NSF-funded projects examining housing informality and spatial inequality in the United States. Her current work explores the role of neighbor reporting and building code enforcement in governing substandard housing by examining how media framings, neighbor reporting, and neighborhood change jointly shape when and where housing regulations are enforced. Proficient in quantitative data workflows using R, with experience coordinating across research teams, managing data collection, and producing academic publications and policy reports.

ICER 2026 Open Scholarship Fellow; 2025 recipient of the Institute for Research on Poverty’s Graduate Student Research Workshop Dissertation Award; Fulbright-LASPAU alumna (2021-2023).

Research Interests: Informal Housing; Housing and Building Code Enforcement; Neighbor Reporting and Neighborhood Change.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dnnmgutierrez-lanza/