Chester Hartman (1936–2023) was an urban planner, author, and academic. He was the Director of Research of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, where he had also served as Founding Executive Director. 

Hartman participated as editor in several journals, including Journal of Negro Education, Journal of Urban Affairs, Housing Policy Debate, Urban Affairs Quarterly, and Housing Studies. Since 1973, he published over twenty books on urban planning, housing, and leadership, including From Foreclosure to Fair Lending: Advocacy, Organizing, Occupy, and the Pursuit of Equitable Credit (New Village Press, 2013), co-edited with Gregory D. Squires. 

Hartman earned his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University, and served on the faculty there as well as at Yale University, Cornell University, UC Berkeley, and Columbia University among others.