Pierre Clavel

Pierre Clavel's research and writing has been on planning, administration, and politics — with particular application to regionalism and nationalism in Appalachia and Wales, then applied to progressive cities like Hartford, Cleveland, Berkeley, Santa Monica, Burlington, Chicago, and Boston, as well as community development in Youngstown, Ohio, and Maine. Current projects include an archived collection and webpages on progressive cities and neighborhood planning.

Clavel was director of Cornell's Progressive Planning summer program from 1979–83, several times director of graduate studies, and department chair from 2001–04. Prior to Cornell, he taught at the University of Puerto Rico.

Clavel studied planning at the University of North Carolina, where he received his M.R.P. degree in 1959. He practiced with Blair and Stein Associates in New England and Upstate New York and received his Ph.D. at Cornell in 1966.

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Classes (Selected)

  • CRP 3602/6602 American Planning History
  • CRP 3090/5090 Community Development SeminarIntroduction to the theory, method, and practice of contemporary community development. Topics include the role community-based organizations play in promoting sustainable development; enhancing the organizational capacity of community-based organizations; and the interplay between neighborhood-based community development activities and regional economic development policy-making.
  • CRP 5130 Introduction to Planning History and PracticeThis graduate lecture course provides a foundation on the theory and history of how cities are planned, developed, and governed. The first half explores why cities exist and how their economic, political, and imperial functions have shaped planning interventions, spatial and social inequality, and environmental outcomes. The second examines the major levers that governments can use to shape the urban condition, including land policy, social policy, infrastructure and natural resource policy, and planning processes. The course connects U.S. experiences with relational and comparative perspectives from around the world. Assignments emphasize training in reading, writing, and communication skills.

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)

  • Davidoff Award for the best book in planning (1989)

Exhibitions and Presentations (Selected)

  • Urban Affairs Association (2007, 2011)
  • Planners Network, Memphis (2011)
  • Research Committee of the International Sociological Society, Vancouver (2007)

Publications (Selected)

  • Opposition Planning in Wales and Appalachia (1983)
  • The Progressive City (1986)
  • Activists in City Hall: The Progressive Response to the Reagan Era (2010)
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