Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle

• Professor of Urban Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Wayne State University, Detroit. MI. First appointed 1992 as Chair of Geography and Urban Planning, then Associate Dean. Returned to faculty, Summer 2014. Director of Graduate Certificate Program in Economic Development.

• Visiting Professor, Facultät Raumplanung, TU-Dortmund, Germany (fall 2014) 

• Visiting Professor, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, Australia (spring 2015). 

• Born and educated in Scotland. Studied at the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Reading, UK. Career: Research Associate: Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Lecturer and Senior Lecturer: Center for Planning, University of Strathclyde, Scotland: 1977-1992; Visiting Professor University of Delaware, USA, 1985; Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA: 1992- 

• Member of the UK Royal Town Planning Institute (1977-2010); American Planning Association; Urban Affairs Association; Urban Land Institute.

• Member (and past Chair), Planning Board, City of Birmingham, MI. 2004-

• Board Memberships: Greening of Detroit, Metro Matters [Michigan Suburbs Alliance] and Urban Land Institute (Michigan). Advisory Boards: Redevelopment Ready Communities (MEDC); Regional Economic Innovation (MSU); Detroit Revitalization Fellows program (WSU).

• Research interests focus on public policies and planning for large cities, with an emphasis on governance and economic development in a metropolitan context. Current funded research includes a study of alternative mobility systems in metro Detroit; adaptive reuse of commercial property. Scholarly research has included cross-national policy responses to urban decline, with a detailed study of how mid-west cities are responding to “shrinkage”.

• Publications/Reports: on Urban Transportation, including: R. Boyle (2016) Taxicab Services and Mobility in SE Michigan, Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau; on Regional Management and Shrinking Cities, including: Boyle, Robin and Robert Mehregan (2016) The Evolution of City-wide Master Plans in the Context of Urban Shrinkage, in Wagner, F, Mahayni, R and Piller, A.G (eds.) Transforming Distressed Global Communities. Burlington, VT, Ashgate Publishing: 73-100; on Economic Development, including: Mohamed, R., Boyle, R. and Tangari, J. (2017) Adaptive Rise: A Review and Analysis of its relationship to the 3E’s of Sustainability. Facilities.

Contact: 248-961-1514

Research interest(s)/area of expertise

• Urban Planning

• Local Economic Development

•  Legacy Cities