Hillary Angelo is an urban sociologist, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton during the 2022-2023 year.

Her research explores the relationship between ideas about nature and urbanization from historical, theoretical, and ethnographic perspectives. She is interested in how ideas about nature are formed, the social conflicts they produce, and how they are deployed to influence the built environment.

Her first book, How Green Became Good: Urbanized Nature and the Making of Cities and Citizens, was published in 2021 by the University of Chicago Press. She is currently at work on two major projects: on public lands and the energy transition, and on the rise and politics of urban sustainability planning.

She received her PhD in Sociology from New York University and holds a BA from Vassar College. Before returning to graduate school, she worked for five years with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, primarily on issues of participatory design, immigration, and public space use.