Core Faculty

Arnab Chakraborty

Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
PhD, University of Maryland-College Park, 2007


I am interested in planning for just and resilient communities. My research focuses on three complementary areas: 1) impact of land use policies on housing, 2) politics and praxis of regionalism, and 3) strategic planning under complexity through scenario analysis.

I am currently teaching the following courses on an annual basis – Fall: 1) Communication for Planners (UP 312); Spring: 2) Plan Making (UP 510) and 3) Growth Management and Regional Planning (UP 547). In the past, I have also taught Microeconomics of Public Policy and Planning, Geographic Information Systems, Land Use Policy and Scenario Planning.

In the past, I have been involved in action-oriented research that brought together representative stakeholders including business, civic and elected officials to create more effective and sustainable development policies. I also played a leading role in multiple regional planning exercises, most notably in Washington metropolitan area and the state of Maryland.

Prior to my doctoral education, I completed a master's degree in urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a bachelor's in architecture from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. I am an affiliate of the National Center for Smart Growth and, in the past, have worked for the Chicago Transit Authority and taught at the Johns Hopkins University. In addition, I have also been involved in various professional, teaching, and research activities in India, China, Curacao and The Netherlands.

Contact Information
Room M230
Temple Buell Hall
611 Taft Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217.244.8728
Fax: 217.244.1717
E-mail: arnab AT illinois DOT edu

Current Research Projects

  • Identify local policies that assist communities withstand housing market shocks by investigating the links between restrictive zoning, housing prices, housing production, and foreclosure rates (with Robby Boyer and Dustin Allred, PhD students)
  • Regional governments, regional governance of land use, and sustainable energy use: Is there a link? (with Dustin Allred, PhD student)
  • Testing Policies for Development Scenarios for Mid-Atlantic States. FHWY Exploratory Advanced Research Program 4B – Mega-regional Travel (with University of Maryland, LEAM Lab at UIUC, ECONorthwest and others)

Links to my selected ongoing projects: md-LEAM, Mid-Atlantic Megaregions Project, and Maryland Scenario Project

Peer-reviewed Publications

Chakraborty, A., “Recognizing uncertainty and linked decisions in public participation: A new framework for collaborative urban planning”Systems Research and Behavioral Sciences: Special issue "Collaborative Problem Solving amid Conflicts" (Forthcoming)

Chakraborty, A., Mishra, S., and Kim, Y.W., “Planning support systems and planning across scales: Comparing scenarios using multiple regional delineations and projections,” URISA Journal: Special Issue on Bridging the Gap Between Modeling and Planning Practice (Forthcoming)

Chakraborty, A., Kaza, N., Knaap, G. J. and Deal, B., "Robust Plans and Contingent Plans: The promise of scenario planning," Journal of the American Planning Association (2011) 77:3

Chakraborty, A., "Enhancing the Role of Participatory Scenario Planning Processes: Lessons from Reality Check Exercises," Futures (2011) 43:4

Chakraborty, A., "Scenario Planning for Effective Regional Governance: Promises and Limitations," State and Local Government Review (2010) 42:1

Deal, B., and Chakraborty, A., "Cyber-Physical Planning Support Systems: Advancing participatory decision-making in complex urban environments," International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management (2010) 16:3

Chakraborty, A., Knaap, G. J., Nguyen, D., and Shin, J. H., "The Effects of High Density Zoning on Multifamily Housing Construction in the Suburbs of Six U.S. Metropolitan Areas", Urban Studies (2010) 47:2

Deal, B., Kim J. H. and Chakraborty, A., "Growth Management and Sustainable Transport: Do growth management policies promote transit use?" Journal of Public Transportation (2009) 12:4

Bento, A., Lowe, S., Knaap, G. J., and Chakraborty, A., “Housing Market Impacts of Inclusionary Zoning”, Cityscape (2009) 11:2 [A version of this article is also forthcoming in J. Rosie Tighe and Elizabeth Mueller edited book The Affordable Housing Reader to be published by Routledge in the Fall of 2012]

Knaap, G. J., Chakraborty, A., "Comprehensive Planning for Sustainable Rural Development", Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Special Issue on Rural Development Policy, (2007) 37:1

Shiffer, M., Chakraborty, A., McNeil, S., Srinivasan, S., Donahue, B., Garfield, G., "A Spatial Multimedia Representation of the Chicago Transit Authority's Rail Infrastructure", Transportation Research Record 1838, (2003) pp 1-10

Under Review

Chakraborty, A., Allred, D. and Boyer, R., "The Effects of Zoning on Housing Foreclosures: Exploring a New Link to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis" Under Review, Housing Policy Debate

Chakraborty, A., and Mishra, S., "Land Use and Transit Ridership Connections: Implications for State-level Planning Agencies," Under Review, Land Use Policy

Mishra, S., Welch, T., and Chakraborty, A, "An experiment in megaregional road pricing using advanced commuter behavior analysis," Under Review, Journal of Urban Planning and Development; Special Issues on Sustainable Development Challenges for Mega-regions

Under Preparation

Chakraborty, A. and Allred, D., "Can regional land use planning in the U.S. reduce energy consumption? A critical review" (intended submission Journal of Environmental Planning and Management)

Kim J. H., Deal, B. and Chakraborty, A., " Looking Beyond Density: A framework for an outcome-oriented growth management policy analysis" (intended submission Journal of Urban Affairs)

Working Papers:

Chakraborty, A., Carrell, J., and Allred, D., "Equity in Access to Parks and Park Funding: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Portland, OR,"

Chakraborty, A. et al. "Visions, Scenarios and Development in the Baltimore-Washington Area: Is there a connection?"

Wilson, B. and Chakraborty, A., "The Environmental Impacts of Urban Sprawl: Integrating New Evidence and Emergent Issues."

Book Chapters and Published Monographs

Bento, A., Lowe, S., Knaap, G. J., and Chakraborty, A., "Housing Market Impacts of Inclusionary Zoning", Forthcoming in J. Rosie Tighe and Elizabeth Mueller edited book, The Affordable Housing Reader to be published by Routledge in the Fall of 2012; A version of this article previously appeared in the journal Cityscape (2009) 11:2

Chakraborty, A., Knaap, G. J., Nguyen, D., and Shin, J. H., "The Effects of High Density Zoning on Multifamily Housing Construction in the Suburbs of Six U.S. Metropolitan Areas", October 2007; Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Paper Series; Inventory ID WP07AC1; English; A version of this article was later published in the journal Urban Studies (2010) 47:2

Arnab Chakraborty