Teaching Areas

  • Policy and Social Impact
  • Sustainability

CONNECT

marans@umich.edu

/ Active Retired Faculty,

Robert Marans

Emeritus Professor of Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning

Robert Marans, an emeritus professor of architecture and urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Design, has conducted research and evaluative studies dealing with various aspects of communities, neighborhoods, housing, and parks and recreational facilities. His research has focused on attributes of the physical and sociocultural environments and their influence on individual and group behavior, well-being, and quality of life. Marans’s research has been in the context of urban areas, including metro Detroit. His current work deals with cultural issues of sustainability and energy conservation in institutional settings, including universities and the impact of the built and natural environments on quality of life.

Marans is a charter member and president of the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission and commissioner of the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority, the governing body responsible for the planning, development, and operations of the metroparks throughout Southeast Michigan. He also has served as a trustee of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.

Marans is the author or co-author of seven books and more than 100 articles and technical reports. His most recent book, Investigating the Quality of Urban Life: Theory, Methods, and Empirical Research (Springer, 2011), was co-edited with Robert Stimson. He is the recipient of the 2012 Career Award from the Environmental Design Research Association and was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP) in 2014.

This faculty member is not teaching courses.