Dr. Richard Norton

Biography

Richard Norton is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, where he also holds a joint appointment in the Program in Environment at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. His teaching and research focus on planning law, sustainable development, land use, environmental planning, and coastal area management, particularly addressing the challenges of managing coastal shorelands in the Great Lakes region. Norton actively engages in community service and provides community-engaged research and teaching. He has contributed to preparing draft legislation for the Michigan Legislature to reform the state’s planning and zoning enabling laws and has written briefs for various courts on behalf of the American Planning Association related to planning and zoning disputes. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a consultant and policy analyst in Washington D.C. and San Francisco. Norton earned his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as master’s degrees in public policy studies and environmental management from Duke University.

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