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SIPA Faculty
Elliott D. Sclar
Avery, Room 413
Professor of Urban Planning
Phone: 212-854-3700
www.urban.columbia.edu/sclar/
eds2@columbia.edu
Biography:
Elliott Sclar is a professor of urban planning. An economist and urban planner, he is the director of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) at Columbia University's Earth Institute, one of six global centers of excellence supported by the Volvo Foundations of Gothenburg, Sweden. Professor Sclar's research interests include urban economic development, transportation, and public service economics.
Sclar was a co-coordinator of the Taskforce on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers, one of ten task forces set up by the UN Millennium Project to aid in the implementation of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals. He was a lead author on the Taskforce's book length report (2005): A Home in the City, which is available on the UN Millennium Project website (http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/reports/tf_slum.htm) and from Earthscan.
He is a nationally recognized expert on privatization: his book You Don't Always Get What You Pay For: The Economics of Privatization (Cornell 2000) won two major academic prizes: the Louis Brownlow Award for the Best Book of 2000 from the National Academy of Public Administration and the 2001 Charles Levine Prize from the International Political Science Association and Governance magazine for a major contribution to public policy literature.
Professor Sclar is also active outside of the classroom. He is a member of the board of directors of Trillium Asset Management, the largest socially responsible investment advisory firm in the United States, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Wainwright Bank and Trust Company, a leading community bank in Boston. Sclar is a member of the American Planning Association and the Society of American City and Regional Planning History.
Elliot Sclar holds a BA from Hofstra University (1963) and an MA from Tufts University (1966). He earned his PhD at Tufts (1972). Prior to his appointment at Columbia University, he was an assistant professor of urban economics at Brandeis University's Heller School (1972-78).
Research Interests: Development, Slums, Privatization