Kristin Larsen

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Professor
352-294-1482
AH 464
Klarsen@ufl.edu

Ph.D., Cornell University 2001
Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, 1990
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, University of Florida 1986

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Areas of Focus:

Planning History and Housing Policy

A key area of Dr. Larsen’s research focuses on members of the Regional Planning Association of America, prominent designers, urbanists, human ecologists, economists, and developers active from the 1920s through the 1950s whose work in regionalism, town building, design, and housing policy established the foundations of today’s sustainability and resilience initiatives. In addition, her research focuses on community engagement to enhance resilience in the face of neighborhood change within marginalized communities. She has published widely on housing policy, neighborhood planning, community engagement, social justice, historic preservation, and planning history.

Bio:

Kristin Larsen, FAICP, Ph.D. (Cornell), MAURP (Florida), BSBA (Florida) is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, a Fellow in the American Institute of Certified Planners, and the former Chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP) and Director of the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning (SLA&P) at the University of Florida. Among the projects she focused on when she worked as a land use and housing planner for the City of Orlando during the 1990s was a neighborhood revitalization project within the historic African American community of Parramore. This professional planning experience inspired her to earn her doctoral degree focused on city and regional planning, planning history, cultural geography, and historic preservation. At UF she has developed new courses in housing policy, historic preservation, and interdisciplinary studies in planning and landscape architecture.

In addition to her responsibilities as a professor, Dr. Larsen served in various leadership positions in the college for over 10 years, including directing the urban and regional planning graduate online degree program, chairing the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and directing the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning. Notably, she led and coordinated the development of the first fully online graduate degree in urban and regional planning in the U.S., shepherded the department through two accreditation reviews, both securing the maximum 7-year accreditation period with the most recent review including the online delivery of the URP graduate degree, currently the only fully online accredited graduate planning degree in the U.S.

Dr. Larsen’s research on Clarence S. Stein and his colleagues in the Regional Planning Association of America alone has resulted in sixteen publications and numerous presentations at national and international conferences. This research focus includes an examination of the legacy of the Regional Planning Association of America on the 100th anniversary of their founding and her biography of noted community architect Clarence S. Stein. Her peer reviewed research has also appeared in Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Planning History, Housing Studies, Planning Perspectives, and Urban Studies. She has secured over $1 million in internal and external grants awarded as either Principal or Co-Principal Investigator, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Urban Scholars Fellowship and a State of Florida Division of Historical Resources Grant. Her examination of the intellectual history of the Regional Planning Association of America continues with her upcoming biography of architect, landscape architect, planner, and housing advocate Henry Wright.

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