Jeffrey Chusid

Jeffrey M. Chusid is an architect and planner with current research interests that include the fate of historic resources in areas of cultural exchange and conflict, the conservation of modernist architecture in India, historic cements, and sustainable development. His writings can be found in journals, museum catalogues, and several texts. Chusid has consulted on public policy, resource conservation, and urban design for diverse communities such as Shanghai, China; Sevastopol, Ukraine; Levuka, Fiji; and Bastrop, Texas. He has also consulted on building and landscape preservation for numerous museums, including the Huntington and Hearst Castle. Chusid received his A.B. in environmental design and his M.Arch. from the University of California–Berkeley in 1978 and 1982. He served as Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning from 2017 to 2021. 

"I love the extraordinary intimate insights preservation provides into the social and cultural life of communities and how the field engages communities and people for projects and sites to be identified, have meaning, and be implemented."

Academic Research/Specialty Areas

  • Adaptive reuse
  • Architectural design
  • Architectural history
  • Architectural representation
  • Community-based planning and development
  • Economic development 
  • Historic preservation planning
  • International studies in planning
  • Land use/spatial planning
  • Landscape architecture
  • Planning history
  • Sustainability
  • Urban design

Related Links

Related News

Classes (Selected)

  • CRP 3900/7850 City and Regional Futures Colloquium: Planning Practice, Policy, and Design This colloquium brings domestic and international experts to Cornell to talk about research and practice aimed at shaping the future of communities and regions. It includes an array of topics that span urban policy, planning practice and research, design, and applied research on technology and society. Course can be repeated for credit.
  • CRP 5560 Creating the Built EnvironmentReal estate professionals and city and regional planners play a vital role in creating the built environment. Understanding the physical form of real estate, and the rules that govern that form, is critically important if one is to meaningfully engage in the practice of real estate development. In this course, we examine in detail the physical form of the built environment, and students gain an understanding of the principles and organizing strategies that underlie it. We examine the following building types in depth: residential, retail, hotel and mixed use. Students exit this course with a deeper understanding of why the built environment takes the shape it does and the opportunities for innovations.
  • CRP 5561 Innovation and Strategy in Commercial Real Estate DevelopmentIn this course, we will examine in detail the physical form of workplace design and the specific principles and organizing strategies that affect it. We address the history of office building design, current trends in workplace culture and new forms of office space. We discuss issues affecting office building design, including environmental sustainability, building efficiency, building code and construction, and leasing and operations. Students exit the course with a deeper understanding of why the built environment takes the shape it does and the opportunities for innovation.
  • CRP 8300 Seminar in Regional Science, Planning and Policy AnalysisCRP 8300 is a weekly seminar at which faculty, students, and visitors present their research on topics of current interest. Presentations usually involve formal or quantitative analyses of developments in regional economies and policy or planning implications.
  • CRP 6690 Museum and the Public (with Cathy Klimaszewski)This course addresses pertinent issues relative to history and preservation. Topics vary each semester.

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)

  • Clarence Stein Institute Grant for Research in India on the work of Joseph Allen Stein, Cornell (2009)
  • Distinguished Teaching Award, Cornell (2006)
  • Outstanding Studio Teaching Award, University of Texas (2000)

Exhibitions and Presentations (Selected)

  • "Preservation: Sustainability Symposium," organizer and speaker, Clarence Stein Institute, New York City (2010, 2009, 2008)
  • "American Historic Cement Conference," organizer and speaker, New York City (2011)
  • "Authenticity and Change at the Freeman House," Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Annual Meeting, Cincinnati (2010)

Publications (Selected)

  • Chusid, Jeffrey M. Saving Wright The Freeman House and the Preservation of Meaning, Materials, and Modernity. New York: W.W. Norton and Co, 2011.
  • "Natural Allies: Preservation and Sustainability," in Pragmatic Sustainability: Dispositions for Critical Adaptation, Moore, Steven A. 2016.
  • "An Innocent Abroad: Joseph Stein in India," India International Centre, Occasional Publication 18, 2010.
Close overlay