Allison Arieff

Allison Arieff is Editorial Director for the urban planning and policy think tank, SPUR. A contributing columnist to The New York Times, Allison has written about architecture, design, innovation, and cities for numerous publications including California Sunday, the MIT Technology Review, and City Lab. From 2007-09, she was senior content lead for IDEO. She was editor-in-chief of Dwell (and the magazine's founding senior editor). The magazine won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence under her tenure. Allison is the author of several books including Prefab and Trailer Travel: A Visual History of Mobile America and her work has been included in several others including Urban Farms, Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York and Modern Sustainable Residential Design. She has taught at Stanford University, UC Davis, and the New School in New York City. 

Gail Brager

Gail Brager is an architecture professor in the Building Science & Sustainability area. Gail also serves as the Director of the Center for Environmental Design Research, and Associate Director of the Center for the Built Environment (CBE), which is a collaboration between UC Berkeley and over 40 industry partners in construction, engineering, design and manufacturing, focused on improving the energy performance and environmental quality in buildings.  Gail’s research and teaching reaches across multiple dimensions of sustainability, addressing the design, operation, and assessment of buildings, with a focus on thermal comfort and adaptation, occupant well-being, natural ventilation, and personalized environmental control.  She was the founding Chair of the Research Committee of the US Green Building Council, and is an American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Fellow and Past-President of the Golden Gate ASHRAE Chapter, and received the Presidential Young Investigator Award from National Science Foundation, Progressive Architecture Research Award, AIA Education Honors Honorable Mention, Places/EDRA award for Place-based research, and several awards from ASHRAE.

Dana Buntrock

Dana Buntrock, a professor of architecture and currently chair of UC Berkeley’s Center Japanese Studies, teaches courses on construction that include field site visits, lectures by construction experts, and hand-on making. Her research focuses on interdisciplinary collaborations in Japanese architecture and construction practices, starting with her first book, Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative Process: Opportunities in a Flexible Construction Culture, which dealt with the radical changes that occurred in structural design and their exciting architectural outcomes following the 1995 Hanshin (Kobe) earthquake. She has conducted fieldwork in Japan, the US, Taiwan, and Korea, supported by fellowships from the US National Science Foundation, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, and the Social Science Research Council. Since 2011, Dana. Buntrock has focused on how energy supply and architecture create opportunities for new approaches to architecture and construction in Japan. The author of three books and dozens of articles in professional and academic journals, Dana’s work has been translated into Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Spanish. 

Claudia Cappio

Claudia Cappio is Assistant City Administrator for the City of Oakland. Prior to joining the city staff, Claudia was Founder and Managing Principal at Sparticles, a real estate development and planning consulting firm. She has broad executive experience in public sector development and finance and public-private partnerships, serving as Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, Executive Director of the California Housing Finance Agency, Director of Planning, Building and Major Projects for the Oakland Base Reuse Authority, and Planning and Building Director for the City of Emeryville.

Karen Chapple

Karen Chapple is a professor of city and regional planning and the Carmel P. Friesen Chair in Urban Studies. She teaches courses on community and economic development, regional planning, and urban data informatics, and studies the governance, planning, and development of regions in the U.S. and Latin America. Karen’s recent book Planning Sustainable Cities and Regions: Towards More Equitable Development, focuses on sustainable development, while new books address the impacts of transit-oriented development, and governance and local economic development in Latin America. Her research focuses on job creation on industrial land, accessory dwelling units as a smart growth policy, and residential and commercial/industrial displacement in cities undergoing rapid economic growth. Prior to academia, Karen spent ten years as a practicing planner in economic development, land use, and transportation in New York and San Francisco.

Dan Chatman

Dan Chatman is an associate professor of city and regional planning, who teaches courses on transportation and its links to urban development. He studies travel behavior and the built environment; residential and workplace location choice; "smart growth" and municipal fiscal decision making; and the connections between public transportation, immigration and the economic growth of cities. Recent projects include an analysis of which U.S. transit systems succeed and why; the implications of immigration trends for sustainable development and economic growth; the relationship of transit investments to agglomeration economies in U.S. cities; the effect of dynamic parking pricing on occupancy and use of on-street parking in San Francisco; and the relationship between residential location, commuting, and happiness. He has also taught at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University where he served as the director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center. 

Renee Chow

Renee Chow, professor of architecture and urban design, is internationally recognized for her expertise in residential and urban design. She lectures internationally on issues of housing design, house construction systems, and the design of neighborhoods. Her publications include Suburban Space: The Fabric of Dwelling that received the 2003 AIA California Council Research and Technology Award as well as the recently published Changing Chinese Cities, a book on the design of cities. Renee has developed analytic and generative design tools for integrating urban and architectural systems across sites and individual buildings. These tools are directed toward encoding and extending local conditions, increasing urban legibility and identity, differentiating agency and time, embedding resource strategies at a community scale and facilitating design collaboration. Renee is also principal of Studio URBIS whose projects include single- and multi-family residences, institutional and commercial projects as well as urban and community specific development plans and studies. The firm received an AIA San Mateo County Honor Award for the Washington Manor Branch Library, AIA Monterey Bay Chapter Design Competition Award for “New Concepts in Housing” as well as an honor award for their competition entry in a “New Canal Town in South China” sponsored by the Shanghai Qingpu District Government. Renee has been honored by Architecture Magazine as one of its “Ten Top Architectural Educators” in 2009, and by the AIA California Council with its Research and Technology Honor Award. 

Nicholas de Monchaux

Nicholas de Monchaux is associate professor of architecture and urban design and director of the Berkeley Center for New Media. His current research focuses on the development of ecological infrastructure strategies for climate-adaptive urban development, as well as the use of new media and visualization strategies to communicate about urban development proposals. He is the author of Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo, an architectural and urban history of the Apollo Spacesuit, winner of the Eugene Emme award from the American Astronautical Society and shortlisted for the Art Book Prize, as well as Local Code: 3,659 Proposals About Data, Design, and the Nature of Cities. With Kathryn Moll, he is principal of Modem, a design practice based in Oakland, CA. His design work has been exhibited widely, including at the Biennial of the Americas, the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Lisbon Architecture Triennial, SFMOMA, and the Chicago MCA. Nicholas HAS worked with Hopkins Architects in London, and Diller, Scofidio + Renfro in New York. His work on urbanism and urban design has been supported by a variety of sources, including the Santa Fe Institute and the Smithsonian Institution. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Bill Falik

Bill Falik practices land use, real estate, and environmental law and mediation in Northern California. During this period he has pursued a dual career as attorney and real estate developer. He graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University in 1968 and from Harvard Law School in 1971, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Bill was a partner in three San Francisco law firms in which he chaired the environmental and land use law departments, and is Managing Partner of Westpark Community Builders which developed 1,500 acres in Roseville, California and planned and entitled 4300 residential units which were sold to the three largest builders in the United States. In addition, as CEO of Live Oak Enterprises, he developed the Whitney Oaks master planned community in Rocklin, California with a championship Johnny Miller designed golf course and 2000 homes. Bill also provides real estate development consulting services to diverse clients, and serves as a mediator and expert witness in complex real estate cases. Bill has taught real property law, CEQA, Environmental Law, Land Use Law, and Real Estate Development at the University of San Francisco’s School of Law and currently teaches real estate courses at Berkeley Law, Haas School of Business, and the College of Environmental Design.

Harrison Fraker

Harrison Fraker is a professor of architecture and urban design, and chairs the UC Berkeley Energy and Resources Group. He was the founding dean of the University of Minnesota College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and served as dean of the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design from 1996-2008. Harrison works on energy, resources and the built environment, specializing in passive solar, daylighting and sustainable design, affordable manufactured housing, and the development of transit-oriented, resource-self-sufficient neighborhoods in China using a whole systems design approach. Currently he is the Co-PI on the Oakland EcoBlock, an integrated renewable energy micro grid and waste water treatment/recycling retrofit pilot project, funded by the California Energy Commission and the PI on a micro climate study for San Jose.  Harrison is a Fellow of the AIA as well as the Design Futures Council and a recipient of the AIA-ACSA Topaz Medallion Award for excellence in architectural education. His recent book is The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods: Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities (Island Press).

Kristina Hill

Kristina Hill is an associate professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, and Urban Design at the University of California, Berkeley. She is an expert on urban ecology and hydrology in relationship to urban design. Her current focus is on ways to adapt urban districts and shorezones to the new challenges associated with climate change. Kristina also has extensive experience in practice. She served as the chair of the Seattle Monorail Authority, and after Hurricane Katrina, she became a member of the Dutch-American engineering and design team that developed New Orleans' ambitious water management strategy. She continues to collaborate with colleagues in The Netherlands and elsewhere to understand the potential for lower-cost, dynamic development designs to help protect coastal communities as sea levels rise. Kristina was chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Virginia from 2007-2010, and was a member of the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Washington in Seattle, and the University of Virginia before coming to California. She was honored as a Fellow of the Urban Design Institute in New York, and has conducted research in Stockholm, Sweden, as a Fulbright Scholar.

Elizabeth Macdonald

Elizabeth Macdonald is a professor of city and regional planning, and urban design. She teaches courses on urban design and conducts research on street design and the history of urban form. Particular interests include the impacts of engineering street standards on the pedestrian realm; context sensitive street design; waterfront promenades and their impacts on physical activity; the interface between buildings and the public realm; the sustainability dimensions of urban design; and urban design graphic communication. Elizabeth is a partner in the urban design firm Cityworks, whose professional projects include the design for Octavia Boulevard in San Francisco (to replace the earthquake damaged Central Freeway), redesigns for Pacific Boulevard in Vancouver, British Columbia, International Boulevard in Oakland’s Fruitvale District, and C.G. Road in Ahmedabad, India. 

Carolina Reid

Carolina Reid is Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning and the Faculty Research Advisor for the Terner Center for Housing Innovation. Carolina specializes in housing and community development, with a specific focus on access to credit, homeownership and wealth inequality. Her recently published research focuses on the impact of the foreclosure crisis on low-income and minority communities, the role of the Community Reinvestment Act during the subprime crisis, and the importance of anti-predatory lending laws for consumer protection. Carolina brings nearly two decades of applied work experience to her research and teaching. Before joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, Carolina worked for a year at the Center for Responsible Lending, where she undertook policy analyses on how provisions in Dodd-Frank could affect future access to credit for lower-income and minority households. Before that, Carolina served as the Research Manager for the Community Development Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco for six years. At the SF Fed, Carolina published numerous journal and policy articles on topics related to housing and community development, and helped to build the capacity of local stakeholders — including banks, nonprofits, and local governments — to undertake community development activities. Carolina has also held positions with the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C., the Environmental Health and Social Policy Center in Seattle, and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Project. 

Elizabeth “Libby” Seifel

Elizabeth (Libby) Seifel has focused her professional career on creating sustainable infill developments, structuring successful public-private partnerships and encouraging the revitalization of communities. As president of Seifel Consulting, Libby has advised hundreds of public and private clients on how to plan, fund and develop a broad variety of projects that achieve triple bottom line objectives, where sustainability and social equity are pursued in equal measure alongside strong financial returns. She has prepared successful strategies to catalyze mixed income housing communities and build more than 10,000 affordable housing units. Libby actively promotes best practices in sustainable development, urban redevelopment and affordable housing through her teaching and writing activities, serving as the editor and author on a number of publications for the Urban Land Institute and other professional associations. Prior to founding her firm, Libby served as Associate-in-Charge of Williams-Kuebelbeck & Associates, overseeing the firm’s economic and management consulting practice. She also served as the founding Executive Director of Tent City Corporation, the non-profit developer of a ULI award-winning mixed income housing development in downtown Boston. Libby is a certified planner (A.I.C.P.) and an elected member of LAI, the Honorary Society of Land Economists. She was recently honored for her positive influence on real estate development, joining the Hall of Fame for the Northern California Women of Influence in Real Estate.

Lydia Tan

Lydia Tan is Senior Vice President for Development in the Western United States for Bentall Kennedy, one of North America's largest real estate investment and services firms, managing over $32 billion on behalf of more than 500 pension fund and other institutional clients worldwide. Prior to joining Bentall Kennedy, Lydia was executive vice president for Related California, where she oversaw projects that included the rebuild of public housing in the Sunnydale neighborhood of San Francisco, Lion Creek Crossings in East Oakland and 1601 Mariposa in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood. She also spent 18 years with Bridge Housing, California’s largest nonprofit developer, where she started as project manager and rose to executive vice president, as well as serving briefly as chief operating officer and interim CEO.

Susan Ubbelohde

Susan Ubbelohde is a professor of architecture, teaching courses on sustainable design and technology. She is principal at Loises + Ubbelohde (L+U), which has pioneered new methods of energy conservation, production and analysis; lighting and daylighting design and analysis; natural ventilation analysis; concept design and fabrication of light emitting and controlling elements including light sculptures. The firm works closely with university and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) researchers to bring the most sophisticated and appropriate technology to the built environment. Susan and her firm have received many awards, including AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Project Awards and 6 Platinum LEED certifications. Recent carbon net-zero buildings include Packard Foundation Headquarters with EHDD Architects, NASA Sustainability Base with William McDonough + Partners and Project Frog zero-energy classrooms, and other recognized projects include the New York Times building and the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York, the Pixar Animation Studios and Art Center School of Design South Campus. L+U is also providing research and development work on high performance building design, dashboard design and controls for a number of building industry manufacturers.

Paul Waddell

Paul Waddell teaches and conducts research on modeling and planning in the domains of land use, housing, urban economics, transportation, and the environment. He has led the development of the UrbanSim model of urban development and the Open Platform for Urban Simulation, now used by Metropolitan Planning Organizations and other local and regional agencies for operational planning purposes in a variety of U.S. metropolitan areas such as Detroit, Houston, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Seattle, as well as internationally in a growing list of cities in Europe, Asia, and Africa. His current research focuses on the assessment of the impacts of land use regulations and transportation investments on outcomes such as spatial patterns of real estate development and prices, travel behavior, emissions, and resource consumption. He is also working on ways to engage public participation in making complex policy choices, including the creation of interactive systems for scenario planning and 3D visualization.

Michael Yarne

Michael Yarne is a joint venture partner at BUILD, a San Francisco-based real estate development company, and Board Chair of Build Public, a nonprofit.  Yarne founded Build Public to innovate public placemaking finance, development, stewardship and policy.  Michael brings multiple perspectives to bear on socially responsible, for-profit, urban infill development and new models of public space development and stewardship, having advised developers and cities on complex land use, real estate, and project finance issues as an attorney, served on the boards of numerous non-profit livable city organizations, including San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Urban Ecology, managed the development of large-scale mixed-use urban residential projects as a real estate developer and implemented innovative public-private partnerships and policies to fund open space and neighborhood infrastructure as an advisor to San Francisco's Mayor Newsom.