Faculty Research Topics
Sam Cole
Professor Cole's research interests match his teaching and experience. He is currently involved in projects on methods of futures studies with the United Nations University Millennium Project, Tourism Planning, Disaster Management and Planning with a European-Japanese-US group, and social accounting methods in regional science. He is a member of several university research institutes, including the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, National Center for Geographic Information Systems, the Environment and Society Institute, the Center for Urban Studies, and formerly Director of the Center for Regional Studies. He is currently a member of the World Futures Studies Federation, the International Input-Output Association, the Society for Applied Anthropology, and the International Regional Science Association.
Daniel B. Hess
Central to Dr. Hess’ research agenda is interpreting how the built environment of cities (and the public policies that support this form) influences travel behavior. He uses an array of research methods to interpret how policies affect travel choices and how methodologically we can best analyze urban spatial dynamics. Access to employment for welfare recipients and low-wage workers is one of Dr. Hess’ concerns, and he has conducted evaluations of policy and practice in California and New York. Dr. Hess is particularly interested in transit system performance and alternative transit funding arrangements, and he has conducted evaluations of employer and university transit pass programs.
G. William Page, AICP
Dr. Page’s research focuses on a variety of issues related to environmental planning, which involves the study of how to use the planning process to minimize the negative effects of human settlements on the natural environment. At present, his efforts are focused on contaminated land and brownfield sites, water supply planning, third-world environmental problems, and the environmental consequences of sprawl.
Kelly L. Patterson
Currently, Dr. Patterson's research is focused in two areas. Since receiving a contract from the Federal Reserve Bank and the Wendt Foundation, she and Professor Robert Silverman are assessing the feasibility of creating a housing partnership and housing fund for the City of Buffalo. In addition, the report from this research will include a section which evaluates the capacity of local community-based housing organizations to develop low to moderate income housing. The other vein of Dr. Patterson's research focuses on subsidized housing and the control of neighborhood blight. She is currently evaluating Section 8 housing policy in the context of its effectiveness in alleviating concentrations of poverty in Buffalo.
Alfred D. Price
Professor Price’s research heavily overlaps his public service and is concerned primarily with housing for low-income households. As domestic housing policy at the federal level has changed, local governments are increasingly challenged to find new ways of responding to this challenge. Accordingly, Professor Price’s work spans investigation into site intensification schemes, creative financing mechanisms and approaches, and policy issues related to housing affordability.
Samina Raja
Dr. Raja’s research interests center on fiscal and economic impacts of development, planning for healthy communities, food systems planning, and international development. Her international interests focus on the role of planning in communities experiencing conflict, and her area of expertise is the region of Kashmir in South Asia.
Dr. Raja also enjoys working on interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects. A recent interdisciplinary study, in collaboration with Dr. Li Yin ( School of Planning and Architecture) and Drs. Epstein and Roemmich (UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences), tests the influence of the built environment on physical activity and obesity among youth.
Robert G. Shibley
Professor Shibley was awarded the James Haecker Award for Distinguished Leadership in the Advancement of Architectural Research from the Architectural Research Centers Consortium, a national organization of university- based architecture and planning research centers. The 2004 citation referenced a career of research advocacy and research awards received through his leadership in Federal Civil Service and including his term of service at the University at Buffalo.
In 2005 the APA recognized work led by Shibley when they gave the Queen City Hub: Regional Action Plan for Downtown Buffalo top national honors for outstanding planning. Other awards include eight APA local and Up-State Chapter awards in categories including Best Student Project, Comprehensive Planning and Public Education as well as one Special Director's Award.
Additional awards for work led by Shibley include the All American City Civic Empowerment Award for the Downtown Buffalo 2002! Implementation Campaign, and the Environmental Design Research Association Service Award given in 1992 to the Bruner Foundation for their support of the Rudy Bruner Award for Excellence in the Urban Environment. Professor Shibley and colleague Polly Welch were the professional advisors to the Foundation. They designed the program, managed its first two cycles including site visit research and multiple publications leading up to the award. Shibley has continued as a professional advisor publishing additional case books and articles as well as managing subsequent award cycles.
Robert Mark Silverman
Dr. Silverman's research focuses on the organization and structure of urban institutions, the role of community-based organizations in urban neighborhoods, and inequality in inner city housing markets. His current research projects include: "Housing Service Agency Structural Definition Report,” a study funded by the Buffalo Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and ongoing research on citizen participation and fair housing. He is also a guest editor for a special issue on “Public Participation in Community-Based Organizations and Local Government" for Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society.
Ernest Sternberg
Dr. Sternberg’s current work is on the ethics of complex decision making to avert disasters, whether from terrorism or natural or technological hazards. His earlier research has examined complex resources whose allocation requires public planning because they are not effectively allocated by pure markets. He pursued this topic through successive studies of resource types, including technological research endowments, cultural and heritage resources, urban physical form and infrastructure systems, and (the opposite of such resources) geophysical and technological hazards. Some of the results may be seen in the publications listed below.
Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.
Urban management; neighborhood planning and regional development; race, class, and gender issues in planning; community development; American urban history; African-American history.
Li Yin
Dr. Yin's research focuses on computer technology applications in a wide variety of urban growth issues and inner city redevelopment. She is interested in exploring new tools which enable high level of visualization, simulations, 3-D modeling, and database management to construct scenarios and evaluate alternatives to facilitate better communication and increase the efficiency of planning processes. Current projects include investigations of recreation development and urbanization in Colorado using agent-based models.
