Stephen Wheeler, Ph.D.

Professor Stephen Wheeler joined the University of California at Davis faculty in January 2007. He previously taught in Community and Regional Planning Program at the University of New Mexico, where he initiated a Physical Planning and Design concentration, and the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his Ph.D. and Master of City Planning degrees. He received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College.

He teaches courses related to community and regional planning, urban design, and sustainable development. He is interested in how many different planning and design strategies can work together to produce more sustainable communities. His current research focuses on 1) climate change planning for mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation; 2) the evolution of built landscapes in metropolitan regions; and 3) theory and practice of sustainable development.

He is the author of three books, Climate Change and Social Ecology: A New Perspective on the Climate Challenge (Routledge 2012), Planning for Sustainability: Towards Livable, Equitable, and Ecological Communities (second edition Routledge 2013), and The Sustainable Urban Development Reader (co-edited with Tim Beatley) (second edition Routledge 2009, third edition due out in 2014). He has also published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

In the past, he has served as editor of The Urban Ecologist journal, as Transportation Commissioner for the City of Berkeley, California, as an urban planning consultant, and as a lobbyist for environmental organizations in Washington, D.C. His guidebook published by Greenbelt Alliance, Smart Infill, won the 2003 Education Project Award from the California Chapter of the American Planning Association. His other awards include the Chicago Institute of Architecture and Urbanism Award, the Munsell Memorial Award, and first place in the Infill Category of the Housing the Next Ten Million competition sponsored by the Great Valley Center in California (with Michael Larice).

In 2009, he received the William R. and June Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning. This national award is given annually to one academic and one practitioner by Cal Poly Pomona. In 2008 he received an Honorable Mention for the Chester Rapkin Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. This award is for best article published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.