Robert Yaro
Robert Yaro has, for nearly four decades, promoted local, regional and national strategies to balance economic vitality and environmental quality. He has worked in local and state government, the civic community and academia to promote these outcomes, from rural areas to America’s largest urban region. He has also taught city and regional planning at the graduate level for more than 25 years and written extensively on urban and regional planning concerns.
Robert has been President of the Regional Plan Association since 2001. Before assuming this role, he served as RPA’s Executive Director from 1990 to 2001. Headquartered in Manhattan, RPA is America’s oldest independent metropolitan research, planning and advocacy organization. Since 1922 RPA has promoted plans, policies and investments needed to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of the New York Metropolitan region, the nation’s largest urban area. RPA has led efforts to revitalize urban and suburban centers, protect important ecosystems, build transportation infrastructure and promote other public and private investments across the region. Robert co-chairs the Empire State Transportation Alliance and is a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s Sustainability Advisory Board, which led in the creation of PlaNYC 2030, NYC’s long range sustainability plan.
Since 2002 Robert has also been Prof. in Practice in City and Regional Planning at the Univ. of Pennsylvania, where he teaches courses in regional planning and landscape preservation. From 1995-2001 he taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He has consulted on a number of urban and metropolitan park plans, including the master plan for Houston’s Buffalo Bayou Greenway and the Netherlands’ Green Heart preserve.
From 1985-1989 Robert was Assoc. Prof. of City & Regional Planning at UMass Amherst and founder and Director of the UMass Center for Rural Massachusetts. In this role he created and led Growing Smart in Massachusetts, the nation’s first smart growth initiative. His 1988 book, Dealing with Change in the Connecticut River Valley received several national awards. While at UMass he also consulted with the National Park Service on creation of the Blackstone Valley National Heritage Corridor and with the USDA Forest Service on the Creation of a proposed Northern Forest Lands National Reserve.
From 1976 to 1984 Robert served under Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis as Chief Planner and then Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Management. In this capacity he developed and led efforts to create the state’s largest park and landscape protection programs, including the 14-city Urban Heritage State Park system, and the state’s greenway and trail networks. Prior to this he worked as an urban planner for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, where he worked on the City’s waterfront redevelopment program and neighborhood revitalization programs.
Robert holds a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Harvard and a Bachelors in Urban Studies from Wesleyan. He has received awards from the American Soc. of Landscape Architects, the American Planning Assn, the American Inst. of Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and other groups. He has consulted on urban and regional planning issues across the US and in Europe, Asia and Africa.
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