Urban Planning Scholar and Practitioner Malo Hutson is appointed Associate Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Columbia GSAPP) is happy to announce that Dr. Malo Hutson will join its faculty as Associate Professor of Urban Planning in September 2017. Professor Hutson is a widely-recognized scholar, teacher, and practitioner whose research at the intersection of urban planning and health inequities is of profound relevance in the planning of today’s cities across the United States, and around the world. Professor Hutson’s specific focus on community development and urban equity, racial and ethnic inequalities and urban policy, as well as the built environment and health renders him a leader shaping the field of planning. At Columbia GSAPP, Professor Hutson joins Dean Amale Andraos and Urban Planning Director Weiping Wu in reinforcing the School’s commitment to sustainable development and social justice by providing students with the resources to develop sustainable and healthy communities for the future.

Building on its strong and influential legacy, Columbia GSAPP’s Urban Planning Program is receiving renewed focus under the direction of Weiping Wu, with recent faculty appointments including Hiba Bou Akar and Leah Meisterlin, and Visiting Professor Kian Tajbakhsh. Dr. Hutson contributes 20 years of experience working nationally and internationally on community-centered projects that improve the economic, environmental, political, and social well-being of urban residents. His research and writing have been recognized by numerous awards and grants, and his most recent book, The Urban Struggle for Economic, Environmental, and Social Justice: Deepening Their Roots (Routledge, 2016), explores the efforts by coalitions of residents, community leaders, unions, and others to resist displacement as a result of neighborhood change and gentrification.

Alongside his academic work, Dr. Hutson is co-founder of The NIAM Group, which develops policy recommendations for local government and leads community engagement for local development projects. As an expert leader in the areas of community development, environmental justice and urban health, he was invited to participate in the Obama Administration’s White House Forum on Environmental Justice, has advised the PEW Charitable Trusts and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Impact Project, and conducted the community engagement process for the Oakland Unified School District, among many other projects.

Dr. Hutson received his Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and earned both his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Master of City Planning degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining Columbia GSAPP, Malo Hutson was an Associate Professor and the Chancellor’s Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also served as the Associate Director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning (IURD) and Chair of the Urban Studies Program. In addition, Dr. Hutson is an alumni of the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program where he was a fellow at the University of Michigan’s Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health within the School of Public Health.