John Forester

John Forester's research into the micropolitics of the planning process, ethics, and political deliberation assesses the ways that planners shape participatory processes and manage public disputes in diverse settings. He has served as a mediator for the Community Dispute Resolution Center of Tompkins County, has consulted for the Consensus Building Institute, and has lectured in the past several years in Seattle, Chapel Hill, Sydney, Melbourne, Helsinki, Palermo, Johannesburg, Aix en Provence, Amsterdam, and Milan.

Forester's recent writing includes Dealing with Differences: Dramas of Mediating Public Disputes, and he has edited a manuscript with Ken Reardon (Ph.D. CRP '90) for CRP's New Orleans Planning Initiative. Forester spent the 2008–09 academic year as NICIS Scholar at the University of Amsterdam's Centre for Conflict Studies.

Forester served as department chair from 1998–01 and was associate dean from 1997–98. He received his B.S., M.S., M.C.P., and Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.

Related Pages

• Profiles of Practitioners

Related News

• John W. Reps, 1921–2020

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)

• Urban Studies Research Grant, University of Amsterdam
• Josephine Jones Lecturer, University Colorado-Boulder (2010)
• John De Grove Guest Professor, Florida Atlantic University (2010)
• NICIS Scholar, Den Haag, Holland (2008–09)
• Cecil Sheps Social Justice lecturer, University of North Carolina (2004)

Publications (Selected)

• Dealing with Differences: Dramas of Mediating Public Disputes, Oxford University Press (2009)
• "Beyond 'Participation': From Risk Management to Processes of Dialogue, Debate, and Negotiation," with Reshmi Thecketil, Building Safer Communities. Risk Governance, Spatial Planning, and Responses to Natural Hazards (2009)
• "Interface: Making a Difference in Response to Hurricane Katrina," edited with articles by Ken Reardon, Andrew Rumbach, Praj Kasbekar, and Efrem Bycer, Planning Theory and Practice (2008)