Summary of Research Interests:
Professor Beard's research and teaching focus on international development. More specifically her research focuses on the relationship between community level collective action and poverty alleviation. This work ranges from how citizens organize to meet their basic human needs to how they plan for broader social and political transformation. She examines these relationships at the community, municipal, national and transnational levels. To gain traction on these issues she has used diverse research strategies and methods, ranging from ethnography, comparative community-level case studies to statistical analyses of large data sets. Professor Beard has worked for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, RAND, Mercy Corps, and the Research Triangle Institute.
Selected Publications
Beard, V.A. and S. Phakphian. 2011. Community-Based Planning in Thailand: Social Capital, Collective Action and Elite Capture, in Vibrant Societies: The Dynamics of Social Capital and Civic Engagement in Asia, eds., A. Daniere and H. Luong, in press.
Beard, V.A. 2011. Citizen Planners: From Self-Help to Political Transformation in the Global South. Oxford Handbook of Urban Planning, eds. R. Weber and R. Crane, in press.
Beard, V.A. and C.S. Sarmiento. 2010. Ties that Bind: Transnational Community-based Planning in Southern California and Oaxaca. International Development Planning Review, 32(3-4): 208-224.
Beard, V.A. and V. Basolo. 2009. Moving, Beyond Crisis, Crossroads and the Abyss in the Disciplinary Formation of Planning, Journal of Planning, Education and Research, 29(2): 233-242.
Mason, D.R. and V.A. Beard. 2008. Community-based Planning and Poverty Alleviation in Oaxaca, Mexico, Journal of Planning, Education and Research, 27(2): 245-260.
Beard, V.A., Miraftab, F. and C. Silver. (eds) 2008. Planning and Decentralization: Contested Spaces for Public Action in the Global South, London: Taylor and Francis
Beard, V.A., Pradhan, M., Vao, R. Cartmill, R., Rivayani. 2008. Community-Driven Development and Elite Capture: Microcredit and Community Board Participation in Indonesia, in Planning and Decentralization: Contested Spaces for Public Action in the Global South, eds., V.A. Bead, F. Miraftab and C. Silver. London: Taylor and Francis.
Beard, V.A. and R.S. Cartmill. 2007. Gender, Collective Action and Participatory Development in Indonesia, International Development Planning Review, 29(2): 185-213.
Beard, V.A. 2007. Household Contributions to Community Development in Indonesia. World Development, 35(4): 607-625.
Dasgupta, A. and V.A. Beard. 2007. Community Driven Development, Collective Action and Elite Capture in Indonesia. Development and Change, 38(2): 229-249.
Beard, V.A. and R.S. Cartmill. 2007. Gender, Collective Action and Participatory Development in Indonesia, International Development Planning Review, 29(2): 185-213.
Beard, V.A. and A. Dasgupta. 2006. Collective Action and Community Driven Development in Rural and Urban Indonesia. Urban Studies, 43(9): 1451-1468.
Beard, V.A. 2005. Individual Determinants of Participation in Community Development in Indonesia, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 23(1): 21-39.
Beard, V.A. 2003. Learning Radical Planning: The Power of Collective Action. Planning Theory, 2(1): 13-35.
Beard, V.A. 2002. Covert Planning for Social Transformation in Indonesia. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 22(1): 15-25.
Beard, V.A. and Y. Kunharibowo. 2001. Living Arrangements and Support Relationships among Elderly Indonesians: Case Studies from Java and Sumatra. International Journal of Population Geography, 7: 17-33.
Beard, V.A. 2000. Rethinking Urban Poverty: A Look Inside the Indonesian Household. Third World Planning Review, 22(4): 1-17.
Frankenberg, E., V.A. Beard, and M. Saputra. 1999. The Kindred Spirit: Ties between Indonesian Children and their Parents. The Southeast Asian Journal of Social Sciences, 27(2): 65-86.
Beard, V.A. 1999. Navigating and Creating Spaces: An Indonesian Community's Struggle for Land Tenure. Plurimondi, 1(2): 127-145.