Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory, has recently published three books that focus on the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological dimensions of urban questions. These include Critique of Urbanization: Selected Essays (Basel: Bauwelt Fundamente Series, Birkhäuser Verlag, 2016), Teoría urbana crítica y políticas de escala (edited and translated by Alvaro Sevilla-Buitrago; Barcelona: Icaria, colección Espacios Críticos, 2016), and The Explosion of the Urban / La Explosion de lo Urbano (Santiago de Chile: ARQ ediciones, 2016).

Felipe Correa MAUD ’03, Associate Professor of Urban Design, Director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design Program, and Co-Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program, has authored a new book entitled Beyond the City: Resource Extraction Urbanism in South America, which examines the roles played by architecture and urban design in large territorial transformation projects in South America. In addition, he was named co-editor of the new book series from the University of Texas Press entitled Lateral Exchanges: Architecture, Urban Development, and Transnational Practices, announced this past August.

Ann Forsyth, Professor of Urban Planning and Director of the Master in Urban Planning Degree Program, has recently published a book and articles in the areas of healthy communities, sustainability, and planning research (full details about collaborators are available on her website annforsyth.net). These include: China’s Urban Communities: Concepts, Contexts, and Well-Being (Birkhäuser); What is a Walkable Place? The Walkability Debate in Urban Design (Urban Design International); Investigating Research [scroll down here] (Planning Theory and Practice); and a chapter in Life-Styled: Health and Places (Jovis). A final report from the Rethinking Social Housing in Mexico Project, co-directed with Professor Diane Davis, is also being released: Revitalizing Places: Improving Housing and Neighborhoods from Block to Metropolis/Revitalizando Ciudades: Mejorando Viviendas y Barrios desde la Cuadra a la Metrópolis. With Professor Rick Peiser, Forsyth recently hosted a workshop for authors of an edited volume on twenty-first century new towns.

Michael Hooper, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, recently published two articles on the politics of urban densification in the developing world. The articles focus on Ulaaanbaatar, Mongolia, and were written together with two recent graduates, Aldarsaikhan Tuvshinbat MUP ’15 and Raven Anderson MUP ’14. They examine the way internationally-driven plans for densification interact with local, Mongolian needs and perspectives regarding housing and land use. The articles appear in Journal of Urbanism and International Development Planning Review. Hooper also completed an article on the role of international shelter standards in post disaster reconstruction, a study coauthored with MUP graduate Martha Pym MUP ’15. In recent months he has begun two new research projects, both focusing on aspects of displacement. The first is based in Montserrat, in the Eastern Caribbean, and the second looks at Canadian Indian reserve housing.

Andres Sevtsuk, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, and Principal Investigator for the City Form Lab held an Urban Network Analysis workshop at the Architecture Association (AA) School of Architecture in London in July. In addition, the City Form Lab opened an exhibit curated and designed by Sevtsuk on the topic of Indonesia’s urban story this fall. The show was first displayed at the Indonesian Stock Exchange in Jakarta, and later travelled to Harvard University and World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC.

Bing Wang MAUD ’99, DDes ’04, Associate Professor in Practice of Real Estate and the Built Environment, was awarded 2016 Best Paper of the Year by the American Real Estate Society (ARES) in the Apartments category for her research manuscript entitled “Micro-Housing as Urban Development Model in a Shared Economy.” The Award ceremony will take place in April 2017 at the annual conference of ARES. Wang’s research dissects development patterns of micro-housing in the United States through the examination of pricing structure of micro‐housing developments, comparing it to conventional market‐rate apartments, and establishes a set of analytical metrics to evaluate the potential of micro‐units and their development as a potential future residential development model. Through empirical data, statistics, and a series of spatial analyses, including GIS mapping and regression modeling, this research intends to shed light on how micro‐unit and micro‐housing residential developments are emerging as social and economic catalysts to foster a unique phase of urban revitalization that is grounded in the synergetic fusion of place, community, and innovation in a shared economy.

Faculty Research
Below are links to some of the research initiatives and studies led by planning core faculty and those teaching planners: