Jesus J. Lara

Dr. Lara is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Michigan State University, his research and pedagogy are centered on sustainable urban design, Latino Urbanism, community development, and sociocultural factors in community design, from urban environments and poverty stricken areas to empty suburban malls and commercial areas at the intersection of upscale developments and highway commerce, and university‐community partnerships.

He received his doctorate in environmental design and planning from Arizona State University in 2006, a Masters in Urban Planning and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the University of Southern California in 2001, and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from California State Polytechnic University in 1994.

He was a Fulbright Fellow at Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University, the Netherlands, between 2003 and 2004, where he conducted research on sustainable urban design practices. Between 2014 and 2015 Dr. Lara was a visiting professor at the Institute for European Urban Studies (IfEU) at Bauhaus Universität, Weimar, Germany. While at Bauhaus Universität, Dr. Lara taught courses on placemaking, organized urban design studios, and conducted research on performance measures for sustainable urban design and revitalization strategies. The work at Bauhaus was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

During the 2022-2023 academic year Prof. Lara was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award and a German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) Research Stays for University Academics and Scientist Award for his project "A Place to Call Home: A study of the relationship between social change and the built environment, and the role of immigrant populations in the process sustainable urban design, informality and placemaking." During this time Prof. Lara was hosted at the Institute of Sustainable Urbanism (ISU) at the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning at the Technical University Berlin where he taught courses on Placemaking/Urban Design and conducted research.