Skip to content
    • About CED
    • Academics
    • For Students
    • CED
      • About CED
        • Community + Values
        • People at CED
        • Meet CED Alums
        • Our Spaces
        • Our History
        • Work at CED
        • Giving
        • Contact Us
      • Academics
        • Undergraduate Majors + Minors
        • Graduate Programs
        • Concurrent Graduate Degrees
        • Certificates
        • Summer Programs
        • Study Abroad
      • Admissions
        • Undergraduate Admissions
        • Graduate Admissions
        • Fees + Financial Aid
      • Undergraduate Advising
        • Newly Admitted Students
        • Forms + Policies
        • Major + Minor Requirements
        • Prepare for Graduation
        • Academic Progress Report
      • News + Events
        • News
        • Events
      • Research + Design
        • Affiliated Research Centers
        • Climate Solutions
        • Equity + Social Justice
        • Technology + Material Innovations
        • Design Excellence
        • Publications
        • Environmental Design Archives
        • Student Work
      • Student Resources
        • Student Organizations
        • Student Support
        • Awards, Scholarships, Fellowships
        • Academic Student Employment
        • Student Fees and Waivers
        • IT + Computing
        • Fabrication + Materials
        • Environmental Design Library
        • Building Safety
        • Facility Services
        • Careers + Opportunities
    • ARCH
      • About Architecture
        • Commitment to Diversity
        • Accreditation and Licensure
      • People
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Master of Architecture (MArch)
        • Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD)
        • Master of Science in Architecture
        • PhD in Architecture
        • Bachelor of Arts
        • Minors
      • Gallery
      • Courses
      • Advising
    • LAND
      • About LAEP
      • People
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Master of Landscape Architecture
        • PhD
        • Bachelor of Arts
        • Minor in Landscape Architecture
      • Gallery
      • Advising
    • CITY
      • About DCRP
      • People
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Master of City Planning
        • PhD
        • Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies
        • Minor in City Planning
        • Minor in Geospatial Information Science & Technology
      • Gallery
      • Advising
    • IURD
      • About IURD
      • People
      • IURD Research Projects
      • Abbey Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D)
        • About Abbey MRED+D
        • Abbey MRED+D Admissions
        • Abbey MRED+D Courses
        • People
      • Master of Urban Design (MUD)
        • People
      • BA in Sustainable Environmental Design
      • Advising
  • CED
    • About CED
      • Community + Values
      • People at CED
      • Meet CED Alums
      • Our Spaces
      • Our History
      • Work at CED
      • Giving
      • Contact Us
    • Academics
      • Undergraduate Majors + Minors
      • Graduate Programs
      • Concurrent Graduate Degrees
      • Certificates
      • Summer Programs
      • Study Abroad
    • Admissions
      • Undergraduate Admissions
      • Graduate Admissions
      • Fees + Financial Aid
    • Undergraduate Advising
      • Newly Admitted Students
      • Forms + Policies
      • Major + Minor Requirements
      • Prepare for Graduation
      • Academic Progress Report
    • News + Events
      • News
      • Events
    • Research + Design
      • Affiliated Research Centers
      • Climate Solutions
      • Equity + Social Justice
      • Technology + Material Innovations
      • Design Excellence
      • Publications
      • Environmental Design Archives
      • Student Work
    • Student Resources
      • Student Organizations
      • Student Support
      • Awards, Scholarships, Fellowships
      • Academic Student Employment
      • Student Fees and Waivers
      • IT + Computing
      • Fabrication + Materials
      • Environmental Design Library
      • Building Safety
      • Facility Services
      • Careers + Opportunities
  • ARCH
    • About Architecture
      • Commitment to Diversity
      • Accreditation and Licensure
    • People
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Master of Architecture (MArch)
      • Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD)
      • Master of Science in Architecture
      • PhD in Architecture
      • Bachelor of Arts
      • Minors
    • Gallery
    • Courses
    • Advising
  • LAND
    • About LAEP
    • People
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Master of Landscape Architecture
      • PhD
      • Bachelor of Arts
      • Minor in Landscape Architecture
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • CITY
    • About DCRP
    • People
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Master of City Planning
      • PhD
      • Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies
      • Minor in City Planning
      • Minor in Geospatial Information Science & Technology
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • IURD
    • About IURD
    • People
    • IURD Research Projects
    • Abbey Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D)
      • About Abbey MRED+D
      • Abbey MRED+D Admissions
      • Abbey MRED+D Courses
      • People
    • Master of Urban Design (MUD)
      • People
    • BA in Sustainable Environmental Design
    • Advising
  • About CED
  • Academics
  • For Students
  • About CED
  • Academics
  • For Students
BACK
BACK
Renee Chow

Renee Chow

William W. Wurster Dean; Professor of Architecture and Urban Design
Address
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820
Phone
(510) 642-0831
Email
rychow@berkeley.edu
Office Hours
Office hours by appointment
Address
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820
Phone
(510) 642-0831
Office Hours
Office hours by appointment
Email
rychow@berkeley.edu
EDUCATION
MArch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
SBAD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

BIOGRAPHY

Both Renee Chow's practice and research focus on the intersection between architecture and its locale. One problem for contemporary design is to link the structures of the city and landscape with their individual pieces — to design how each affects and is affected by the other. In making pieces of our cities — highways and streets, parks and buildings — our current architectural culture too often strives for a degree of formal autonomy from surrounding circumstances. The experience of a city becomes a cacophony of competing markers. The local experiences of neighborhood textures, district orientations, and collective practices of dwelling disappear as our design practices increasingly lose the tools to make them.

Urban challenges of the 21st century — flooding and drought, resource depletion, and urban uniformity — also require solutions that are locally rooted. Chow has developed analytic and generative design tools for mapping and transforming locales by integrating landscape, urban and architectural systems across sites and individual buildings. While adapting our communities for climate resilience, we can also build the unique legibility of every neighborhood. More can be found about reshaping forms of urbanism both in suburbs and cities in her books, Suburban Space: The Fabric of Dwelling (2002) and Changing Chinese Cities: The Potentials of Field Urbanism (2015).

Currently, Chow is the William W. Wurster Dean of the College of Environmental Design; she previously served as chair of the Department of Architecture. In 2021, she was named an ACSA Distinguished Professor. She has been honored by the College of Environmental Design with the Eva Li Chair in Design Ethics from 2005 to 2010, by Architecture Magazine as one of its “Ten Top Architectural Educators,” and by the AIA California Council with its Research and Technology Honor Award. 

Publications

Changing Chinese Cities: The Potentials of Field Urbanism. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2015.

Suburban Space: The Fabric of Dwelling. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.

 

Publications
Suburban Space Book Cover
Changing Chinese Cities Book Cover

Photo Modal

Berkeley home page

230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820 Berkeley, CA 94720-1820

230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820 | Berkeley, CA 94720-1820

  • Contact
  • Work at CED
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Linkedin
  • Accessibility
  • Land Acknowledgment
  • Privacy
  • Nondiscrimination
  • Credits

© 2025 UC Regents; all rights reserved.

    • DONATE NOW
    • ARCH
    • CITY
    • LAND
    • IURD
Berkeley home page
  • ARCH
  • CITY
  • LAND
  • IURD
  • DONATE NOW
  • Contact
  • Work at CED
  • Faculty + Staff

230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820 Berkeley, CA 94720-1820

  • Accessibility
  • Land Acknowledgment
  • Privacy
  • Nondiscrimination
  • Credits

© 2025 UC Regents; all rights reserved.