Ben Teresa, Ph.D., associate professor in the Urban and Regional Studies and Planning program and co-founder of the RVA Eviction Lab, has been named a co-recipient of the 2026 Best Article in the Journal of Urban Affairs Award. The Urban Affairs Association selected his co-authored paper, “A data feminist approach to urban data practice: Tenant power through eviction data,” as one of two articles honored this year.

Co-written with Megan Hatch of Cleveland State University, Seumalu Elora Lee Raymond of the University of Canterbury and former Wilder School colleague Kathryn Howell of the University of Maryland, the article goes back to first principles: Where does urban data come from? Whose experiences are counted? And how do those choices shape power, policy and outcomes on the ground? Through detailed case studies, the authors show how tenant organizing and community-centered data practices can change not just how eviction is measured, but how it is challenged.

The award committee called the piece “critically important and highly significant” and recommended it as required reading in planning theory and methods courses. That praise dovetails with Teresa’s broader research, which traces how housing insecurity is produced through authority, enforcement and unequal power over tenure—from the financialization of rent-regulated housing to eviction as a tool of political demobilization. Through the RVA Eviction Lab, his data and analysis have helped legal aid attorneys, housing advocates and policymakers across Virginia prevent eviction and advance housing justice.

The award will be presented at the International Conference on Urban Affairs in Chicago on April 29, 2026.