Faculty Directory

Larissa Larsen is an associate professor in the Urban and Regional Planning Program (URP) at the University of Michigan. She teaches graduate classes in environmental planning, land use planning, and urban design theory. She regularly oversees graduate community-based capstone projects in Detroit neighborhoods. Larissa is the PhD Coordinator for the Urban and Regional Planning Program and the Physical Planning and Design Concentration Coordinator for the Master of Urban Planning Program. Larissa holds an appointment in the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Larissa's research focuses on identifying environmental inequities in the built environment and advancing issues of urban sustainability and social justice. Some of her past research has examined urban heat islands, water consumption, and neighborhood mobilization against environmental problems. Most of her current work involves climate adaptation planning and urban heat island studies. In the past year, she and her students worked with the US Green Building Council to write a publication entitled, Green Building and Climate Resilience. Working with five other scholars on campus and the Graham Institute, Larissa is involved in a multi-year project investigating how the changing climate will impact cities in the Great Lakes Region and how planning can enhance their resilience.

Larissa grew up on a farm in Ontario. She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Guelph, Ontario. Larissa received her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After completing her Ph.D., she worked as a landscape architect and urban planner for a private firm in Chicago, Illinois. She is a registered landscape architect and has a passion for native plants. Before coming to the University of Michigan, she taught at Arizona State University for two years.