Dr. Lawrence Frank

Biography

Lawrence D. Frank specializes in the interaction between land use, travel behavior, and air quality health, as well as energy use and climate change impacts on urban form and policies. He is recognized as a pioneer in 'walkability', coining the term in the early 1990s and contributing significantly to the development of tools such as WalkScore, which is widely utilized to assess walkability. His notable contributions have earned him a position among the top 1% of social sciences researchers according to Thompson Reuters in 2014. He is currently ranked as the #1 planning academic in North America based on a recent Google Scholar ranking. Over his career, Frank has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and has co-authored significant works addressing community design, urban sprawl, and public health, contributing to the emerging understanding of the nexus between built and natural environments and health. He has led over $20 million in primary research and has worked with government agencies and NGOs to support efforts in predicting travel patterns, greenhouse gas emissions, chronic disease prevalence, and the economic impacts of land use and transportation policies.

Research Interests