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Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Joan Fitzgerald is a Professor of Urban and Public Policy. She focuses on urban climate action and strategies for linking it to equity, economic development, and innovation. In her fourth book, Greenovation: Urban Leadership on Climate Change (Oxford Univ. Press, 2020), she argues that the climate strategies of most cities represent random acts of greenness rather than integrated and aggressive action. She points to leading cities in North America and Europe and offers strategies for cities to accelerate their action. She is leading a team at the Dukakis Center that is conducting an assessment for the Boston Foundation’s Boston Climate Progress Report. The report will assess Boston’s progress on its climate action and resiliency plans with particular focus on equity. She is co-authoring a new book, Cities and the Struggle for Climate Justice. Fitzgerald blogs on urban climate action on Planetizen. She teaches The 21st Century City, Cities, Sustainability & Climate Change, and Intro Environmental Science & Policy. 

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  • Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States
  • Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning
  • Association of American Geographers

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Joan’s Colleagues

Max Abrahms

Associate Professor of Political Science

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Amílcar Antonio Barreto

Professor & Chair, Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies; Professor & Interim Director, International Affairs; Professor, Political Science; Affiliated faculty member of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies; Affiliated faculty member in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

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Barry Bluestone

Russell B. and Andree B. Stearns Trustee Professor Emeritus of Political Economy; Founding Director of the Dukakis Center; Founding Dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Christopher Bosso

Professor of Public Policy and Political Science

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Alan Clayton-Matthews

Associate Professor Emeritus of Economics and Public Policy

William Dickens

University Distinguished Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Stephen E. Flynn

Professor of Political Science; Founding Director, Global Resilience Institute

James Alan Fox

Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy

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Brian Helmuth

Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy

Timothy Hoff

Professor of Management, Healthcare Systems and Public Policy

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In Memoriam William Kay

Associate Professor of Political Science

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David Lazer

University Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Computer Sciences

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Dietmar Offenhuber

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Art + Design

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Kwamina Panford

Emeritus Associate Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies

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Serena Parekh

Distinguished Professor of Philosophy; Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religion