Profile: Meet Professor Sy Adler

Sy Adler, Ph.D
Professor of Urban Studies and Planning
College of Urban and Public Affairs
Portland State University

B.A. (urban studies) 1971 University of Pittsburgh; M.C.P. 1973 Harvard University; Ph.D. (city and regional planning) 1980 University of California at Berkeley.

Syteaches the following core courses: History and Theory of Planning in thegraduate planning program; Sociology and Politics of Urban Life in the UrbanStudies master and doctoral programs; and Theory and Philosophy of CommunityDevelopment in the undergraduate community development major. He also teachesPlanning Workshop, Introduction to Urban Planning, and Healthy Communities. Hisresearch interests are closely integrated with his teaching areas and includecomparative studies of planning institutions, theories and practices, andhistorical and contemporary relationships between urban planning and publichealth. His main project now is a political history of the Oregon statewideland use planning program. He believesthat the Portland metropolitan area and the Northwest offer a wealth ofopportunities to study innovative approaches to understanding and addressing awide range of crucial planning and development issues, and conveys hisexcitement to students. He is a former co-editor of the Journal of the AmericanPlanning Association.

Publications:

Books

1997 CarlAbbott, Sy Adler, and Margery Abbott,  Planning a New West: The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Corvallis,OR: Oregon State University Press.

1994 CarlAbbott, Deborah Howe, and Sy Adler, eds., Planningthe Oregon Way, Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press.

Chapters

2004 andJennifer Dill, "The Evolution of Transportation Planning in the Portland MetropolitanArea." In Connie Ozawa, ed., The PortlandEdge. Covelo,CA: Island Press.

1994 "TheOregonApproach to Integrating Transportation and Land Use Planning." In Carl Abbott, Deborah Howe, and Sy Adler,eds., Planning the Oregon Way, Corvallis, OR: Oregon State UniversityPress. 

1993 "TheEvolution of Federal Transit Policy." InMartin Melosi, ed., Urban PublicPolicy: Historical Modes and Methods,University Park, PA:Pennsylvania State UniversityPress.

1990 andSheldon Edner, "Governing and Managing Multi-Modal Regional TransitAgencies in a Multicentric Era." InGeorge M. Guess, ed., Public Policy andTransit System Management, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Articles

2008 andNoelle Dobson, Karen Perl Fox, and Lynn Weigand, "Advocates and Active Livingon the Rural-Urban Fringe: A Case Studyof Planning in the Portland, Oregon, Metropolitan Area."  Forthcoming in Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, Volume 33, Number 3,June, 2008.

2007 NoelleDobson, Sy Adler, Karen Perl Fox and Lynn Weigand, "Advocating for ActiveLiving on the Rural-Urban Fringe," Planning Magazine, Volume 73, Number 2:  A-5.

2004 Deborah Howe, CarlAbbott, and Sy Adler, "What's on the Horizon for Oregon Planners?" Journal of the American Planning Association,Volume 70, Number 4: 391-397.

2004 MarkBello and Sy Adler, "Banning the 'Snout House': The Politics of Design in Portland, Oregon." Journalof Architectural and Planning Research, Volume 21, Number 3: 193-208.

2003 CarlAbbott, Sy Adler, Deborah Howe, "A Quiet Counterrevolution in Land UseRegulation: The Origins and Impacts ofOregon's Ballot Measure 7." HousingPolicy Debate, Volume 14, Number 3: 383-425.

2002 J.C. Jo and Sy Adler, "North Korean Planning: Urban Changes and Regional Balance." Cities, Volume 19, Number3: 205-215.

2002 JinCheol Jo and Sy Adler, "Planning in the socialist developing country: the case of North Korea." HabitatInternational 26: 251-267.

2001 MarthaBianco and Sy Adler, "The Politics of Implementation: The Corporatist Paradigm Applied to theImplementation of Oregon's Statewide Transportation Planning Rule." Journal of Planning Education and Research,Volume 21, Number 1.

1996 MatthewSlavin and Sy Adler, "Legislative Constraints on Gubernatorial State IndustrialPolicy: Evidence from Oregon's Regional Strategies Program." EconomicDevelopment Quarterly, Volume 10, Number3.

1993 "TheEvolution of Federal Transit Policy." Journal  of Policy History, Volume 5, Number 1.

(Reprinted in Martin Melosi, ed., Urban Public Policy: Historical Modes and Methods,  PennsylvaniaState University Press, 1993.)

1992 andSheldon Edner, "Challenges Confronting Metropolitan Portland's Transportation DecisionSystem." Transportation Research Record, Number 1364.

1992 andJohanna Brenner, "Gender and Space: Lesbians and Gay Men in the City." International Journal of Urban andRegional Research, Volume 16, Number 1.

1991 "TheTransformation of the Pacific Electric Railway: Bradford Snell, Roger Rabbit, and the Politics of Transportation in Los Angeles." UrbanAffairs Quarterly, Volume 27, Number 1.

1990 "EnvironmentalMovement Politics, Mandates to Plan, and Professional Planners: The Dialectics of Discretion in PlanningPractice." Journal of  Architectural andPlanning Research, Volume 7, Number4.

1990 SharonBaggett and Sy Adler, "Regulating the Residential Care Industry: Historical Precedents and CurrentDilemmas." Journal of Aging and Social Policy, Volume 2, Number 1.

1990 andGerald Blake, "The Effects of a Formal Citizen  Participation Program on Involvement in the PlanningProcess: A Case Study of Portland, Oregon." Stateand Local Government Review, Volume 22, Number 1.

1989 CarlAbbott and Sy Adler, "History in Planning Analysis." Journal of the American Planning Association,Volume 55, Number 4.

1988 "InfrastructurePolitics: The Dynamics of Crossing  San Francisco Bay." ThePublic Historian, Volume 10, Number 4.

1988 "AComparative Analysis of Rail Transit Politics, Policy and Planning in Canada and the United States." TheLogistics and Transportation Review, Volume 24, Number 3.

1988 and SheldonEdner, "Technological Change in Urban Transport Organizations." PublicProductivity Review, Volume 12, Number 2.

1988 "WhyBART but no 'LART'? The PoliticalEconomy of Rail Rapid Transit Planning in the Los Angeles and San FranciscoMetropolitan Areas, 1945-1957." Planning Perspectives, Volume 2, Number2.

1987 "The NewInformation Technology and the Structure of Planning Practice." Journalof Planning Education and Research, Volume 6, Number 2.

1986 "TheDynamics of Transit Innovation in Los Angeles." Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Volume 4: 321-355.

BookReviews

2007 Reviewof Zachary Schrag, The Great SocietySubway: A History of the Washington Metro, The Johns Hopkins University Press,2006. Journal of American History. Volume 93, Number 4.

2006 Reviewof Gregory Crowley, The Politics ofPlace: Contentious Urban Redevelopmentin Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press,2005. Journal of Planning Education and Research, Volume 26, Number 1.

1998 Reviewof Greg Hise, Magnetic Los Angeles: Planning the Twentieth-CenturyMetropolis, The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1997. Pacific Historical Review, Volume 67, Number 4.

1997 Reviewof Bruce McClendon and Anthony Catanese, eds., Planners on Planning: LeadingPlanners Offer Real-Life Lessons on What Works, What Doesn't, and Why, Jossey-Bass, 1996. Journalof the American Planning Association, Volume 63, Number 2.

1994 Reviewof Clifton Hood, 722 Miles: How the SubwaysShaped New York City,Simon and Schuster, 1993. Journal of Planning Education and Research,Volume 14, Number 1. 

1988 Reviewof Scott Bottles, Los Angeles and theAutomobile: The Making of the Modern City,University of CaliforniaPress, 1987. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Volume 6, Number 2.

CompletedWorks

EllenShoshkes and Sy Adler, "Planning for Healthy People/Healthy Places:Lessons from mid-20th Century Global Discourse." Forthcoming in Planning Perspectives in 2009.

Carl Abbott, Sy Adler, and MargeryAbbott, "The Columbia River Gorge NationalScenic Area." A chapter in a forthcomingvolume about regional planning initiatives in the United States that surveys theimplementation of the 1986 Scenic Area Act.

ResearchMonographs

2003 and Julie Odell,Assessment of the Community GIS Initiative. Prepared for Ford Foundation.

2002 andConnie Ozawa, Pleasant Valley ConceptPlan: Project Evaluation. Prepared for Metro.

1997 andCarl Abbott, Conflict and Cooperation onthe Metropolitan Frontier: The Politicsof Regional Growth Management in the Pacific Northwest. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

1988 Sheldon Edner,Sy Adler and Peter Morris, ChallengesConfronting Metropolitan Portland'sTransportation Decision-Making Regime. TRANS/NOW.

1986 Understanding the Dynamics of Innovation in UrbanTransit. United States Department of Transportation,Urban Mass Transportation Administration.

1980 The Political Economy of Transit in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1963. United States Department ofTransportation. Urban MassTransportation Administration.  

ConferencePapers and Presentations

2008 "Planners,Environmentalists and Lawyers, and the Politics of Land Use Legislation in Oregon." Presented at International Planning HistorySociety Conference.

2008 "The Politics ofAdopting Oregon's Statewide Land Use Planning Goals." Presented at Association of CollegiateSchools of Planning Conference.

2007 "Lawyers,Planners, Lawyer/Planners: The Dynamicsof Land Use Planning in Oregon." Presented at the Association of CollegiateSchools of Planning Conference.

2007 "WatchdogEmerging: The Pre-History of 1000Friends of Oregon." Presented at Urban Affairs AssociationConference.

2006 EllenShoshkes and Sy Adler, "Planning for Healthy People/Healthy Places:Lessons from mid-20th Century Global Discourse. Presented at the Association of Collegiate Schools of PlanningConference.

2003 "The Evolution ofTransportation Planning in the PortlandMetropolitan Area." Presented at theAESOP-ACSP Joint Conference.

2001 RoundtablePresentation: "Oregon's Ballot Measure 7." Presented at the Association of CollegiateSchools of Planning Conference.

1997 "Plannersand Angry Citizens: The Portland Planning Bureau and the Dynamics ofIncreasing Density." Presented atthe Association of Collegiate School of Planning Conference.

1996 RoundtablePresentation: "Torontoas a Capital of Good Planning: Canadianand U.S.Perspectives." Presented at theAssociation of Collegiate School of Planning Conference.

1995 "ImplementingOregon'sStatewide Transportation Planning Rule: The Dynamics of Conflict and Cooperation Within the Community ofPlanners." Presented at theAssociation of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference.

1994 "Pushingthe Envelope of Planning Practice: Citizen Activists, Professional Planners, and the Politics of TransportationModeling in the PortlandMetropolitan Area." Presented atthe Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference.

1993 "Plannersas Educators: The Portland Planning Bureau's Livable CityProject." Presented at theAssociation of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference.

1992 "TheOregonApproach to Integrating Transportation and Land Use Planning." Presented at the Association of CollegiateSchools of Planning Conference.

1992 "TheOregonApproach to Integrating Transportation and Land Use Planning." Presented at the Urban Affairs AssociationAnnual Meeting.

1990 "TheEvolution of Transportation Planning Practice." Presented at the Association of CollegiateSchools of Planning Conference.

1988 "Institutionaland Professional Issues in Planning Theory and Practice." Presented at the Association of CollegiateSchools of Planning Conference.

1988 InvitedParticipant, International Conference on Research on Planning Practice, CornellUniversity.

Sy's contact information:
Office: Urban Center, room 370N
Phone: (503) 725.5172
E-mail: adlers@pdx.edu
Website: http://web.pdx.edu/~d3sa/