Stephan Schmidt is an Associate Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University, where he teaches classes on Environmental Planning and Geographic Information Systems. He currently serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department, and is also the Director of the Clarence S. Stein Institute for Urban and Landscape Studies.

In addition, he is a Faculty Fellow at the Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future and the Cornell Population Center, and is affiliated with the Cornell Institute for European Studies, and the Cornell Institute for African Development.

Stephan Schmidt has a B.A. in Earth Sciences (Washington Univiersity), and a Masters in Landscape Architecture (University of Washington), where he wrote his thesis on urban form and the use of public space in Kumasi, Ghana. He received his PhD in Urban Planning and Policy Development (Rutgers University), where he wrote his dissertation on local open space preservation patterns and exclusionary zoning practices.

Stephan Schmidt's general research interests concern the social, economic and political context of environmental, design and land use planning and decision-making, and is currently focusing on a number of different research areas. First, he is interested in the changing land use patterns in Europe as the result of demographic, institutional, and political economic impacts and the role of planning institutions to effecutuate land use patterns. Second, he is interested in urbanization patterns in sub-Saharan Africa, and is currently examining the manner in which urbanization patterns and demographic change affect land tenure systems and urban agriculture in Tanzania.

Stephan Schmidt's work has been published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, the Journal of Planning Education and Research, the Journal of Planning History, International Planning Studies, European Planning Studies, Urban Affairs Review, Environment and Planning B: Design and Planning, the Journal of Urban Design, International Development Planning Review, Urban Design International, Cities, and Urban Geography.

Stephan Schmidt lives in Ithaca with his wife and children.

Stephan Schmidt's CV

Stephan Schmidt's City and Regional Planning faculty profile

Stephan Schmidt's Cornell University VIVO
Stephan Schmidt research interest: public space