Faculty Profiles

BIO

Robert W. Marans is research professor emeritus at the Institute for Social Research and professor emeritus of architecture and urban planning in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Throughout his career, Dr. Marans 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.  His current work deals with cultural issues of sustainability and climate change in institutional settings including universities and the impact of the built and natural environments on quality of life.

Initially trained as an architect (licensed 1967-2021), Marans taught graduate courses in both architecture and urban planning for more than 30 years and served as director and program chair in planning for more than a decade. He is currently active in recreation policy in southeastern Michigan.  Marans is a charter member and past president of the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission and commissioner former chair of the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority (HCMA), the governing body responsible for the planning, development, and operations of the metroparks throughout Southeastern Michigan. He also is a trustee of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, and has served on the executive committee of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and the boards of the University’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, the Michigan Land Use Institute, and the Legacy Land Conservancy. Marans is the author or co-author of 10 books and more than 100 articles and technical reports. His most recent book, Handbook of Quality of Life Research: Place and Space Perspectives (co-edited with R. Stimson & N. Webster) was published Edward Elgar in early 2024. Among his honors, he was a recipient of Progressive Architecture Applied Research Award, a Design Research Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Career Award of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP) and selected as a Pioneer in Quality of Life Research by the Journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life. He serves on the editorial boards of several professional journals and has lectured extensively throughout the US, and in Europe, Asia, South Africa, South America, Australia, and the Middle East.