SARAH COFFIN, Ph.D., AICP Associate Professor, Program Director
Dr. Coffin’s work focuses on the intersection of economic development and environmental planning in post-industrial cities. She has published work that examines the impacts of brownfields, vacant properties, and more recently development incentives on weak market economies and whether new ways of framing the redevelopment question might provide positive benefits for distressed communities. In addition, Dr. Coffin served as the principal investigator for the university team that supported the recently completed, HUD-funded OneSTL grant. In that role she lead the effort to establish a regional data portal called the St. Louis Regional Data Exchange as a means to promote further open data opportunities across the region. She was also the primary author for the 2010 statewide evaluation of the Missouri Historic Preservation Tax Credit program sponsored by the Missouri Growth Association where she examined impacts of the program on jobs and revenue. Prior to arriving in St. Louis in 2003, Dr. Coffin spent two years at the University of Louisville working for the EPA’s Environmental Finance Center in Region 4 as a post doctoral researcher where she developed the brownfield and development incentives frameworks she currently uses to analyze communities.
Dr. Coffin teaches courses in planning and development theory, research methods, local economic development practice and policy, and the research capstone course.
BOB LEWIS, CEcD, FAICP Assistant Professor of Urban Planning & Development
Bob became a professor of urban planning and development at Saint Louis University in the summer of 2018 after retiring from Development Strategies, a St. Louis-based planning and development consulting firm. Bob is a former principal and part-owner of Development Strategies where he was employed for 30 years. Prior to that, he was a planner with the consulting firm of Team Four and with the St. Louis County Department of Planning.
The focus of Bob’s professional work was—and remains—the analysis of the market, economic, and organizational forces that influence urban development and economic growth. Clients include state and local governments, private property owners, real estate developers, corporations, government agencies, non-profits, and large institutions all around the USA.
At SLU, Bob teaches in the Master’s degree program for Urban Planning and Development. His courses include the foundations of planning, land use planning, the impacts of planning and economic development, real estate and economic development, and an interdisciplinary studio class that works on real-world community development challenges. Bob continues to consult, as well.
A native of Glencoe, Illinois, in the Chicago area, Bob holds a master's degree in city and regional planning from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (1976) and a bachelor's degree in business economics from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1973). He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and is a Certified Economic Developer.
JOHN LANGA Adjunct Faculty
Description of John Langa's work experience and interests, courses taught.
FACULTY IN ACTION
Bob Lewis presenting his findings from the "Economic Impact of Public Transportation in Missouri" study he conducted for Citizens for Modern Transit (October 2019). Photo courtesy of Citizens for Modern Transit.
John Langa, Vice President of Economic Development at Bi-State Development, and adjunct faculty member in the SLU UPD program, talks to the Missouri and Illinois chapters of the American Planning Association about the Metro Landing development at the Swansea Transit Center.