Urban & Regional Planning News
01.14.12 B/a+p’s Center for Urban Studies Joins Effort to Overhaul Buffalo’s Perry Choice Community
Photo: Douglas Levere | © 2012 University at Buffalo
The Center for Urban Studies, a research and community development unit within the UB School of Architecture and Planning, has joined itself to a massive effort: a proposal by the City of Buffalo and the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority to restructure, redevelop and rehabilitate downtown Buffalo's seriously declining Commodore Perry neighborhood and turn it into the vibrant, sustainable community it once was. Read more
1.12.12 Robert Silverman Delivers Lecture in Florida on “The Inner-City Context of Food Insecurity: A Case Analysis of Buffalo
Professor Rob Silverman was an invited speaker at the University of Florida's interdisciplinary seminar series called "Agriculture to Culture: Perspectives on our Food from Farm to Plate.” His public lecture was given January 12 in the Carleton Auditorium on the University of Florida Campus.
11.23.11 Master of Urban Planning Student Publishes Academic Article on US Indigenous Governments
Samuel W. Rose, a student pursuing a 2012 Master of Urban Planning degree at the University of Buffalo, has published an article in Nonprofit Policy Forum, a peer-reviewed academic journal. Entitled “A New Way Forward: Native Nations, Nonprofitization, Community Land Trusts, and the Indigenous Shadow State,” Rose’s article examines the development of indigenous government in the U.S, as reflected in their use of land trusts and other nonprofit organizations. It is published in a 2012 volume of the journal. Rose was assisted in his project by a grant from the University at Buffalo’s Baldy Center for Law and Policy, and advised by Associate Professor Robert M. Silverman of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.
The full article can be read at http://www.bepress.com/npf/vol2/iss2/3
11.21.11 Planning Faculty Publishes new book
Dr. Robert Silverman has published a new book with Kelly Patterson entitled Fair and Affordable Housing in the US: Trends, Outcomes, Future Directions as part of the Brill Series: Studies in Critical Social Sciences. It adds to our understanding of the trends, outcomes and future directions of fair and affordable housing policy. It examines issues of interest to housing scholars and practitioners. Sections include discussions of: fair housing policy, affordable housing finance, equitable approaches to land use, rent vouchers, and homeownership policy. Chapters examine policy implementation in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. Contributors to the edited volume include experts from the fields of political science, public policy, urban planning, sociology, and social work.
11.15.11 Dr. Thomas L. Daniels, 2011-12 Clarkson Chair in Planning
Thomas L. Daniels spent the week of October 30th in Buffalo as the Department of Urban & Regional Planning’s Clarkson Chair of the academic year 2011-2012. Dr. Daniels is a Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania where he teaches and does research on Land Use Planning, Environmental Planning, Metropolitan Growth Management, and Land Preservation.
Mr. Daniels has authored numerous books, chapters, journal articles, conference papers and presentations, and professional reports on the subjects of farmland and open space preservation and planning. He is currently a member of the American Planning Association and the Land Stewardship Committee for the Lancaster County Conservancy. He is also senior contributing editor to Farmland Preservation Report, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Orton Family Foundation.
10.03.11 Professor Henry Taylor to Oversee Student Study of “Anchor Institutions” in Cities
Professor Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., has received a grant from the Anchor Institutes Task Force to oversee a project by Gavin Luter, a Ph.D. student in Education Administration in the UB Graduate School of Education. “Anchor institutions” have sizable real estate holdings and make large local investments in cities. For this reason, policy-makers and urban leaders increasingly view anchor institutions as important partners in building successful communities and local economies. “The Anchor Institutes Task Force” is an organization composed of college presidents, administrators and scholars convened to develop knowledge about these institutions and to create partnerships between anchor institution and communities. It is headed by Dr. Ira Harkavy of the University of Pennsylvania.
09.19.11 Food Policy Summit
Local government policymakers, officials and planners from across the region will gather September 19-20, 2011, for a Food Policy Summit that will explore how Western New York can use its food system as a major engine for economic development. http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/mail/DW24J9
09.15.11 Alumnae Honored
Stephanie Simeon, MUP ’05, has been named to the prestigious 40 Under Forty by Business First. Honorees have “made it their mission to contribute in extraordinary ways to their communities and the quality of life we all enjoy in the Buffalo Niagara region,” said Jack Connors, Business First publisher and president. The entire list is available on the Business First website.
07.25.11 Olmsted Homage
The School of Architecture and Planning's Urban Design Project has published Olmsted in Buffalo and Niagara, the first history and guidebook written about the visionary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in Western New York. http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/mail/8WNZY9
06.21.11 MUP Studio Project Wins APA Award
The MUP studio project "The Fruit Belt: A Conservation District" is being honored with the Outstanding Student Project award from the Western New York chapter of the American Planning Association. The MUP students worked with the Fruit Belt neighborhood in the City of Buffalo to explore various tools to help guide future infill development in the neighborhood while protecting the neighborhood’s character. The final report proposes designating the neighborhood a conservation district, which would make the Fruit Belt the very first conservation district in New York State. The report offers a comprehensive analysis of an alternative planning approach to help guide inconsistent infill development in the community. In addition, the report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the historic structures of the neighborhood, demographics, political conditions, the built environment, best practices for conservation districts, case studies, an explanation of why a conservation district would fit the Fruit Belt, an analysis of the character of the Fruit Belt, a draft set of design guidelines, and a sample Fruit Belt conservation district ordinance. According to the WNY chapter of the APA, “The Fruit Belt: A Conservation District” exemplifies high standards of quality, excellence, and professionalism in planning. For more information, please visit http://wnyapa.com/default.aspx
04.12.11 NEH Fellowship Awarded
Dr. Daniel B. Hess, associate professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo, has been selected to receive a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The fellowship takes place at Columbia University during summer 2011. Hess will participate with other faculty from top U.S. universities in an institute entitled “America Engages Eurasia, 19th Century-Present: Studies, Teaching, and Resources,” and he will pursue independent archival research on the history of city planning in countries of the former Soviet Union. This research builds upon his recent experience studying post-state Socialism urban planning as a 2010-2011 Fulbright Scholar at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia. More information is available at http://nehsummerinst.columbia.edu/
03.31.11 Ibrahim Jammal Memorial Lecture on International Planning
The 2011 Professor Ibrahim Jammal Memorial Lectures on International Planning were given by Professors Christine Bae and Harry W. Richardson.
Christine Bae’s work focuses on the intersection of planning for diverse communities, sustainable urbanization, and environmental justice. She has ten years of experience as a planning consultant, having recently worked on the environmental impact review for a new Learning Resource Center.
Harry W. Richardson has taught at USC for over 30 years. His research interests are urban and regional economics, and international planning and development. His current research includes themes such as changes in metropolitan spatial structure, urban travel behavior, and economic impact methodologies.
Together Bae and Richardson have researched and written many books and research papers on these urban issues, including Urban Sprawl in Western Europe and the United States, The Evaluation of Growth Management Programs in the United States, and The Impacts of Globalization on Urban Development.
03.31.11 Clarkson Chair in Planning
Philip Berke, the 2011 Clarkson Chair in Planning, is professor of planning and director of the Institute for Environment at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research focuses on the connections between the dynamics of urban development, how development impacts natural environmental systems, and the consequences of these impacts on human settlements. Research includes: local growth management and hazard mitigation planning in coastal areas; capacity-building in disadvantaged communities for ecosystem management and disaster resiliency in the Caribbean, Thailand, and U.S.; national assessments of the links between environmental planning and sustainable community development in the U.S. and New Zealand; and examination of alternative urban forms on integration of green community practices.
He has been on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Journal of Architecture and Planning Research and was lead co-author of work on integrating principles of sustainable communities in urban form in Urban Land Use Planning.
Professor Burke gave the 2011 Clarkson Chair in Planning Lecture on March 23.
10.26.10 New Dean Appointed
The School of Architecture and Planning is pleased to announced that Professor Robert Shibley has been named Dean of UB’s School of Architecture and Planning effective January 1, 2011. The full announcement may be found at the following link: http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/2010_10_28/shibley_dean
Photo: Doug Levere
06.15.10 Hess Receives Fulbright
Dr. Daniel B. Hess, associate professor of urban and regional planning in the School of Architecture and Planning, has received a Fulbright Scholar Award to teach and conduct research at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia. For the complete story, visit: http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/2010_05_26/fulbright_winners
06.15.10 URP Welcomes Himanshu Grover
The UB Department of Urban and Regional Planning's tenure and tenure-track faculty strength will reach 14 in fall 2010 with the arrival of Himanshu Grover as a tenure-track assistant professor, making the it one of the larger programs in the nation. Himanshu Grover earned his Ph.D. from the urban and regional sciences program at Texas A&M University. His primary research interests include equitable development, sustainable growth, climate change management and environmental planning. He considers himself a practice-oriented researcher and seeks to strengthen connectivity between planning research and practice. He received his B.Tech in physical planning from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India in 1998 and thereafter practiced as an urban and environmental planner for more than six years. He received his Masters degree in Urban Planning from Texas A&M in 2006. He received a National Award for promoting environmental education in India in 2004, a Regent's Fellowship from Texas A&M in 2004, is a recipient of the 2007 best paper award in the Journal of the American Planning Association, and is a fellow of the 2008 UN Summer Academy on environmental change, migration, & social vulnerability.
06.15.10 Summer 2010 International Program in London
MUP and M.Arch students will travel to London in August 2010 to study comparative urban sustainability. They will explore various topics—including transportation planning, active living, natural resources, and energy—and investigate policies in Europe and the U.S. in a study course led by Prof. Daniel B. Hess.
06.01.10 Raja Receives Grant and National Committee Appointment
As part of the Healthy Kids Healthy Communities Initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Samina Raja has been awarded a two-year grant to assess healthy eating and active living policies and environments in the City of Buffalo. This project builds on Dr. Raja’s prior research on community food systems. Project partners include the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, the Massachusetts Avenue Project, and Green Options Buffalo.
Dr. Raja has also been appointed to serve on a committee of the National Academies of Science to develop a framework and guidance for health impact assessment (HIA) in the United States. The committee will assess the value and potential value of HIA assessments; the impediments and countervailing factors that have limited the practice of HIA to date; the circumstances and criteria for conducting them; the concepts, tools, and information required; and the types, structure, and content of HIAs. The committee is expected to release its findings in early 2011. http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49158
Photo: Derek Nichols
04.15.10 GPSA Wins National APA Award
UB’s Graduate Planning Student Association won the APA’s 2010 Outstanding Planning Student Organization award in the Community Outreach category. The award, which includes a $1,000 cash prize, was presented in New Orleans to UB graduate student Kimberly Moore, president of the student association.
The project, “Buffalo Urban Planners,” involved helping seventh- and eighth-grade Buffalo Public School students from PS 74 Hamlin Park School and PS 30 Frank A. Sedita Academy create neighborhood revitalization plans and raising awareness of urban planning careers among minority students. It began last summer and wrapped up in December with presentations to local officials, teachers, school board members, local non-profits and community members.
12.23.09 URP Student Newsletter
The December'09 issue of the MUP Quarterly student newsletter is now available online.
12.17.09 APA Highlights GPSA’s BuffaloUP Program
In celebration of National Community Planning Month, the APA recognized BuffaloUP, a program designed by the Graduate Planning Student Association in partnership with LP Ciminelli. Through BuffaloUP, University at Buffalo MUP students introduce 7th and 8th graders to urban planning and engage them in community development and revitalization through collaborative neighborhood planning projects. The piece can be found at http://www.planning.org/ncpm/events/index.htm
12.15.09 Dr. Donald Shoup Named Clarkson Chair in Planning
In January 2010, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning will continue its annual tradition of hosting the Clarkson Chair, a scholar-in-residence. Through a week-long series of public lectures and seminars, hosted both on and off campus, Clarkson week promotes interdisciplinary scholarship on a topic of current interest, and facilitates knowledge-sharing among academicians and local planning practitioners.
The faculty of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning are delighted to announce that Dr. Donald Shoup, professor of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been named the 2010 Clarkson Chair in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Dr. Shoup will give the annual public Clarkson lecture while he is in residence at the University at Buffalo in January.
Dr. Shoup has extensively studied parking as a key link between transportation and land use, with important consequences for cities, the economy, and the environment. The School of Architecture and Planning at UB will host a public lecture entitled Graduate Density Zoning for Infill Redevelopment in January. In addition, Dr. Shoup will give a public lecture entitled The High Cost of Free Parking at the Hohn Lecture Hall at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute at UB’s Downtown Campus, also in January.
11.24.09 GPSA Recognizes MUP Student Achievements
Several MUP students have been selected to present their work at National Conferences:
The Queen City Gardens project resulted from Dr. Samina Raja's Planning for Food Justice class last spring. Students compiled a report that includes current conditions, legal research, GIS representations, community outreach, and recommendations for community gardens in the City of Buffalo. MUP students Danielle Rovillo, Derek Nichols, Fenna Mandolang, Jon McNiece, Kelly Ganczarz, and Susannah Barton will be presenting their work on this timely issue at the APA conference this spring and hold a question and answer session after.
Kimberley Moore and Susannah Barton submitted a proposal based on a paper they began in Prof. Allen's Economic Development class this semester. Their paper, The Economics of Form Based Codes, focuses on the issues regarding strict land-use zoning codes of Euclidean zoning versus the adaptive form-based codes that require adherence to design standards within the given context. They will also be presenting their findings in New Orleans at this spring’s APA conference.
Mike Watrous, a second-year MUP student, will be presenting the Community Gardens work at the APA National Conference in New Orleans.
Kimberley Moore and Dr. JiYoung Park presented their paper, Measuring Attractive Urban Areas, at the 56th North American Regional Science Association International (RSAI) Conference in San Francisco. Their paper focuses on the in-migration of young adults and the potential reasons why they choose certain areas over others, what makes certain areas more popular, and how this can impact the new economy and various other planning issues.
11.12.09 APA NY Upstate Chapter Recognizes MUP Project
The NY APA Upstate Chapter has recognized Bridging the Gap, an MUP studio project for D’Youville College, with the 2009 Outstanding Student Project Award. Under the direction of Prof. Daniel Hess, Ph.D., students drafted a comprehensive plan strengthening D’Youville College’s connection to the surrounding neighborhoods and linked the campus plan with revitalization efforts taking place in the community. The award was presented at the annual chapter meeting in Albany.
09.21.09 Faculty Search Announcement
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning invites applicants for the tenure-track position in the area of Sustainable Development. The review of applications will begin November 2, 2009.
08.24.09 Graduate Students Travel to Germany
In summer 2009, 12 MUP students from UB travelled to Stuttgart, Germany to observe how German children commute to school, how they interact with their built environment, and what programs are in place to increase their safety. Led by Professors Samina Raja and Niraj Verma, the graduate students travelled throughout the Stuttgart region to observe and study the different approaches to planning for youth and active living. Their work will inform research this fall as participating students explore potential policy, program, and physical infrastructure recommendations designed to promote active living among children in Amherst, New York in a graduate planning studio led by Prof. Raja. The full story, by Jessie Hersher, a first-year MUP student, will be published in this fall’s Western New York APA newsletter. Photo credit: Derek Nichols.
08.15.09 Faculty Member Receives Tenure
Samina Raja, Ph.D., has been promoted to associate professor with tenure, effective fall 2009. Dr. Raja’s teaching and research interests include planning for healthy communities, food justice, the influence of food and built environments on health, fiscal and economic impacts of development, international development planning, and research and planning methods.
05.05.09 Student Elected to APA Committee
Danielle Rovillo, first year MUP student, has been elected to represent all Planning schools in the New England Region (APA’s Region 1) on the Executive Committee of the American Planning Association Student Council. As part of this honor, Ms. Rovillo will work with the APA Board of Directors, the chair and staff of the Student Representative Council, and other regional representatives to help make the APA work better for students and young professionals. Ms. Rovillo has been invited to attend a special training conference in Washington, D.C. and the 2010 APA National Conference as an Executive Committee representative.
03.31.09 2009 Charter Award
The Congress for the New Urbanism, one of the foremost international advocates for the revival of cities, recognized an ensemble of plans produced by the University at Buffalo’s Urban Design Project with the 2009 Charter Award. The honor went to Buffalo’s Comprehensive Plan documents, which include: The Queen City Hub: A Regional Action Plan for Downtown Buffalo, The Queen City Waterfront – Buffalo Waterfront Corridor Initiative: A Strategic Plan for Transportation Improvements, The Olmsted City – The Buffalo Olmsted Park System: Plan for the 21st Century, and The Queen City in the 21st Century: Buffalo’s Comprehensive Plan.
03.31.09 2009 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award
he Preservation League of New York State awarded The Olmsted City – The Buffalo Olmsted Park System: Plan for the 21st Century as an example of excellence in historic preservation. The Urban Design Project, a research center in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo, is proud to have led the development of this plan and continues to work toward its recognition and implementation.
01.02.09 2008 IEDC Excellence in Economic Development Awards
The International Economic Development Council’s Excellence in Economic Development Awards recognize the world’s best economic development marketing materials; programs and partnerships; and the year’s most influential leaders. This year, an Honorable Mention for Neighborhood Development was awarded to the Urban Design Project publication The Queen City Hub: A Regional Action Plan for Downtown Buffalo, at the IEDC national conference in Atlanta. The Queen City Hub is the framework for a place-oriented program of development that has succeeded in generating huge amounts of investment downtown. It also won the 2005 American Planning Association Outstanding Planning Award.
01.02.09 2008 APA Professional Awards
The Western New York Section and the Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association awarded an Urban Design Project publication Queen City Waterfront – Buffalo Waterfront Corridor Initiative: A Strategic Plan for Transportation Improvements the Planning Excellence for a Best Practice Award. The plan bridges the false dichotomy between the values represented in transportation infrastructure development and public goals for a cleaner environment, better waterfront access, economic development, stronger and better-connected waterfront neighborhoods, and a great international waterfront gateway. The publication has been nominated for the National APA Awards, to be announced in 2009.
01.02.09 2008 ASLA Annual Awards
Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Professional Awards honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe. This year, the New York Upstate Chapter of ASLA honored an Urban Design Project publication, The Olmsted City – The Buffalo Olmsted Park System: Plan for the 21st Century, edited by Robert Shibley and Lynda Schneekloth, with the Planning and Analysis Honor of Excellence Award. The publication is a restoration and management plan for the Buffalo Olmsted park and parkway system, sponsored by the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy.
01.02.09 New Book: Building Sustainable Neighborhoods: 2007 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence
Robert Shibley, Director of the Urban Design Project, reports a new book out, Building Sustainable Neighborhoods: 2007 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, that he co-authored with Richard Wener, Jay Farbstein and Emily Axelrod, published by the Bruner Foundation, Boston: 2008. Rudy Bruner Award winners enliven our nation's cities and provide innovative models for addressing some of our country's most persistent urban ills.
12.15.08 Planning Students Study Falls
Under the direction of Professor Ernie Sternberg, students in the graduate urban planning studio presented a report to the Niagara Falls City Council on the need and opportunity for hotel development in Niagara Falls. The project entitled “A View of the Falls,” showed how Niagara Falls can better capitalize on the tourism market through the strategic development of hotels, in that current entertainment attractions and hotel stock do not actively encourage overnight stays. Students involved in the project were: Tesfaldet Adhanom, Daniel Bellgraph, Yu Bi, Charisse Cameron, Brittany DiLeo, John Kordrupel, Anthony Palumbo, Matthew Rogers, Jonathan Wolf, Mosmi Yerawar, and Yan Zhang.
09.05.08 Ferdinand Lewis, Ph.D., Joins Faculty
Dr. Ferdinand Lewis has joined the Department of Urban and Regional Planning as a Visiting Assistant Professor. In August of 2008, Ferdinand Lewis became the first recipient of the interdisciplinary degree in Policy, Planning and Development from the University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning and Development. While at USC, Lewis served on the adjunct faculty of the School of Fine Art’s Public Art Studies program, teaching a two-semester sequence on art as community engagement. For USC’s School of Policy, Planning and Development, Lewis taught courses in qualitative research methods and urban morphology, and he also taught community design and development in USC’s interdisciplinary Neighborhood Studies Program.
Prior to taking up his doctoral studies, Lewis served on the faculties of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program and the School of Theater at the California Institute of the Arts for a decade. He has authored numerous articles, two books, and a book chapter on the subjects of ensemble theater, community-based artmaking, and graphic design.
After the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, Lewis (a South Louisiana native) participated in the development of “Preface to a Plan,” a web-based, post-disaster urban design project, which won two American Planning Association awards, and was exhibited at the 2006 Venice Biennale.
Lewis’s current research focuses on the ethics of urban design, specifically on how designers evaluate the built environment’s contribution to human well being.
09.01.08 Faculty Member Receives Tenure
The Urban and Regional Planning Department is pleased to announce that Professor Daniel B. Hess, Ph.D., was granted a promotion to Associate Professor with tenure effective with the start of the fall semester, 2008.
08.30.08 UP Students Travel to England
Six MUP students participated in a study abroad course led by Dr. Daniel B. Hess in England in August 2008. During the course, students were in residence in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape at Newcastle University. Through interactions with Newcastle University faculty and planning professionals from the Newcastle Gateshead region, the students investigated urban regeneration, arts development, waterfront planning, and city-university interactions. Beyond the city of Newcastle, students visited Durham cathedral and various coal mining towns in Northeast England. The region provided fertile design and policy actions for comparative study of urban planning in the US Rustbelt.
08.01.08 Planning Faculty Member Honored
Samina Raja, Ph.D., has been named a member of Business First’s "40 Under Forty" 2008 class which recognizes honorees for their professional success and commitment to the community. Dr. Raja’s research focuses on planning and design for healthy communities. Her recent article, "Beyond Food Deserts: Measuring and Mapping Racial Disparities in Neighborhood Food Environments," in the Journal of Planning Education and Research (Vol. 7, issue 4) examines racial disparities and access to healthy food. In the study, Dr. Raja notes that minority neighborhoods are more likely to be “food deserts,” meaning they suffer from a lack of availability of healthy, nutritious food. Rather than large grocery stores, she points out that minority neighborhoods are often served by a network of smaller independent corner stores. In her work with the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP), Dr. Raja is helping make Buffalo a healthier city by improving access to healthy food. MAP is creating urban gardens and training youth in sustainable food systems. Buffalo Grown Mobile Marketplace, her latest community-economic-development initiative, will help provide food deserts in East and West Buffalo with access to healthy, nutritious food through the use of mobile markets which will strengthen the food system by bringing locally-grown food directly to underserved communities. She is also continuing work on an NIH-funded collaborative study that examines the influence of the food and built environments on obesity and physical activity. Jack Connors, Business First publisher and president stated "our community is fortunate to have these 40 individuals active and involved.”
08.01.08 Clarkson Week Announced
In October 2008 the University at Buffalo Department of Urban and Regional Planning will continue its annual tradition of hosting the Clarkson Chair, a scholar-in-residence. Through a week-long series of public lectures and seminars, hosted on and off campus, the Clarkson week promotes interdisciplinary scholarship on a topic of current interest, and facilitates knowledge-sharing among academicians and local planning practitioners. The faculty of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning are delighted to announce that Dr. Michael Teitz, professor emeritus of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, has been named the 2008 Clarkson Chair in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.
Dr. Teitz is Director of the Economy Program, Senior Fellow, and former Director of Research at the Public Policy Institute of California, which he helped to plan and establish. He holds a B.Sc (Economics) from the London School of Economics, an M.S. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in Regional Science from the University of Pennsylvania. His recent research has been in the fields of regional planning, local economic development, and housing planning and policy. Author of a book on residential rent control and numerous papers and reports, Professor Teitz has served as a consultant and advisor to local, state, and national governments, both in the United States and Internationally, and to private sector and non-profit organizations. He has been chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning, chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate of the University of California, and president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. He has received the Berkeley Citation, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Distinguished Educator Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. Dr. Teitz will give the annual public Clarkson lecture on October29, 2008.
08.01.08 MUP Planning Program Reaccredited
The Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) of the American Collegiate Schools of Planning reaccredited the Master of Urban Planning for six years. In a report released in spring 2008, the PAB praised the faculty, students, and program graduates on the regional, national, and international influence of their engaged scholarship. The PAB stated UB’s planning program benefits from “a dedicated faculty with high levels of experience and skill, blending theoretical and practical capabilities, enthusiastic and committed students, a supportive professional community; loyal alumni; location in a university with a strong professional education tradition that has invested in the program in recent years; and location in a school that sees urban and regional planning as central to its mission.” The report goes on to state that “employers and professional leaders describe the program graduates as very well prepared for a wide range of planning careers…Many alumni quickly rise to positions of leadership in the planning profession in Western New York and beyond.” Reaccreditation is effective through 2014.
08.01.08 New Faculty Member Appointed
JiYoung Park has been appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. He received a Ph.D. in urban planning from the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California and was a Postdoctoral Associate at the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, the first university center of excellence funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He obtained both his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics, summa cum laude from Seoul National University in Korea. As a student, he was involved in over ten research projects and has published or had accepted ten peer-reviewed papers, two econometrics textbooks, three book chapters, and prepared seven peer-reviewed papers. In 2006, Dr. Park received an SPPD dissertation fellowship. A recipient of the 2006 METRANS UTC outstanding student award from METRANS and the National PERISHIP award supported from the National Science Foundation, Swiss Re, The Public Entity Risk Institute and the University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center. He was also awarded the Best Paper Prize in 2007 Graduate Paper Competition Using Statistical Data from Korea’s National Statistical Office. His dissertation received Honorable Mention of the 2007 Regional Science Association International (RSAI) Dissertation Competition and the Jack Dyckman Award for the Best Dissertation in Planning from University of Southern California in 2008. Dr. Park’s current research interests are urban economics and transportation modeling as applied to Natural and man-made environmental and security problems. As a research assistant at USC, he constructed the National Interstate Economic Model (NIEMO), a spatially disaggregated operational MRIO(Multiregional Input-Output) model of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. He also constructed a temporarily extended NIEMO, calling it FlexNIEMO. Currently, he is working on a new project, developing a methodology to combine NIEMO with model systems, funded by METRANS. He anticipates developing worldwide MRIO models, including NIEMO, which is called ICEMAP (Inter-Countries Economic Model of Asian Pacific rim). The economic and transportation models he developed were used to analyze economic impacts resulted from natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and from hypothetical terrorist attacks on important transportation infrastructures in U.S. He is also developing and regionalizing those macro models to be more useful for local government.
08.01.08 Center for Urban Studies Cited for Outstanding Program Award
The Center for Urban Studies’ East Side Neighborhood Transformation Project (ESNTP) has been named the recipient of the 2008 International Community Development Society’s award for “outstanding program utilizing the principles of good practice as adopted by the society.” ESNTP seeks to aid in revitalizing the Fruit Belt and Martin Luther King, Jr. Park communities – two of Buffalo’s most distressed inner-city neighborhoods – by making them desirable places to live, work and raise a family. ESNTP involves interactive projects that link K-8 education with housing rehabilitation and commercial corridor revitalization by involving students in neighborhood planning and improvement. ESNTP works with community-based organizations to assist them in meeting the affordable-housing needs of the community. The program also works with local businesses and the Fillmore Avenue Merchants Association to improve the physical environment and safety of the business corridor, as well as provide business owners training and improved access to capital. The program is supported with a grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
01.28.08 Study Abroad Program Wins Award
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning’s international comparative studio in Stuttgart, Germany and Buffalo, NY has been cited a ‘best practice’ in study abroad and honorable mention for the prestigious Andrew Heiskell Award, conferred by the Institute of International Education. The studio is designed to offer a new model of collaboration for students, research opportunities for faculty and broaden understanding of Buffalo’s significance as a world city. Fifteen MUP students from UB joined 12 German students to collaborate on projects in both Buffalo and Stuttgart under the direction of Professors Wolfgang Jung, Walter Schönwandt, Niraj Verma and William Page. View Full Story
