Domenic Vitiello

Domenic Vitiello is an urban historian and planner and professor of City Planning in the
Weitzman School of Design and of Urban Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences.
The center of his work is with migrant communities in the U.S., Canada, and more
recently Italy. His book, The Sanctuary City: Immigrant, Refugee, and Receiving
Communities in Postindustrial Philadelphia (Cornell University Press, 2022), is open
access thanks to funding from the H+U+D colloquium and Weitzman School Dean Fritz
Steiner. H+U+D colloquium funding is also supporting his current work with migrant
communities in Sicily, in collaboration with colleagues from Penn, West Africa, and Italy.
Domenic teaches The Immigrant City for undergraduates (URBS/SOCI 0270; LALS
0273); global Migration and Development for graduate students (CPLN/SOCI 6280);
and in fall 2022 a H+U+D City Seminar on Palermo: Urban Migration, the Built
Environment, and Global Justice, co-taught with Architecture professor Franca
Trubiano.
Urban agriculture and community food systems are Domenic’s other main area of
research, teaching, and practice. His most recent article, “’The highest and best use of
land in the city’: Valuing urban agriculture in Philadelphia and Chicago,” is also open
access. Domenic was founding president of the Philadelphia Orchard Project. He
teaches The Urban Food Chain for undergraduates (URBS 0248) and Metropolitan
Food Systems (CPLN 6210) for graduate students.