AFFILIATIONS
EDUCATION
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1996
M.C.P., University of California, Berkeley, 1988
M.B.A., University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1982
A.B., History, Lawrence University (Appleton, WI), 1979
TEACHING
URP6716: Transportation Policy and Planning
URP6711: Transportation and Land Use Coordination
URP6203: Planning Research Design
URP6526: Health and the Built Environment
URP6341: Urban Planning Project
RESEARCH
For the past thirty years, Dr. Steiner’s teaching and research activities have focused on the interactions between land use and transportation with a particular focus on alternative modes of transportation – walking and bicycling – and the impact on communities, health and the environment. Her current research focuses on the impact of school siting, school transportation and land development patterns on children’s travel, the impact of the sharing economy (e.g., Uber and Lyft) on transit availability, transportation for vulnerable populations, inequity in planning, and the health and community impacts of redevelopment of old industrial sites in cities.
BIO
Ruth L. Steiner, Ph.D. is a professor and director of the Center for Health and the Built Environment in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and an affiliate faculty in the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) and the Transportation Institute (UFTI) at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on the coordination of transportation and land use, with a particular focus on planning for all modes of transportation and its impact on communities, the environment, and public health. Her current research is on the impact of school siting, school transportation and land development patterns on children’s travel, transportation and aging, the changing pattern of travel among millennials, impacts of new transportation technologies on transportation systems, equity in planning, and the incorporation of risk into long-range transportation planning. She is co-author of Energy Efficiency and Human Activity: Global Trends and Prospects (Cambridge University Press, 1992) and author of over one hundred book chapters, journal articles, reviews and research reports. She has served on the Pedestrian Committee, Transportation and Land Development Committee and Transportation History Committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Scientific Committee of the World Congress on Transportation Research Society (WCTRS).
She teaches courses in Transportation Policy and Planning (URP6716), Transportation and Land Use Coordination (URP6711), Planning Research Design (URP6203), Health and the Built Environment (URP6526), Urban Planning Project (URP6341) and Ecological Issues in Sustainable Design (DCP6205).
After earning her AB in History from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, Ruth worked as a computer programmer and systems analyst for First Wisconsin Bank (now a part of US Bank). During this time she earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She later earned a Masters of City Planning (MCP) from the University of California, Berkeley. She then worked for two years as a policy analyst for the Vermont Public Service Board (now the Vermont Public Utility Commission). She returned to the University of California, Berkeley, where she completed her Ph. D. in City and Regional Planning.