Christopher Campbell
Professor and Chair, Urban Design & Planning; Associate Dean for Students
Campbell’s research focuses on community and place-making at different scales and in different settings. He is particularly interested in the social aspects of place-making and the intersection of built form, social behavior, and culture. With a background in cultural sociology and theory, he is fascinated with how people and groups create meaningful places out of ordinary urban spaces, and how these meanings in turn shape social life and personal identities. He has applied these ideas to studies of neighborhood in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Russia, to investigations of historical trauma among indigenous populations, and to the creation of community in high rises and other “vertical environments”. He teaches primarily in the undergraduate program, Community, Environment, and Planning (CEP), but also works regularly with Master and Ph.D. students on thesis work and other research. He is especially interested in alternative forms of teaching, and has been nominated for or received five teaching awards at the UW. As an administrator, he has served as the CEP Director since 2010. He was a member of the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Academic Affairs administrative team from 2008-2013 where he developed campus-wide undergraduate policy and programming. He was appointed Director of the MUP program and Chair of the Department of Urban Design and Planning in summer 2014.