Associate Professor
Professor Robert Paterson specializes in land use and environmental planning. He has completed over 60 projects over the past 33 years at UT Austin. He has twice served as Associate Dean for Research and Facilities as well as Departmental Chair, co-founded the School of Architecture’s Center for Sustainable Development, and managed two major renovations creating the School of Architecture Materials Lab, Research Centers administrative spaces and Digital Classrooms/Studio Review spaces. Professor Paterson teaches graduate-level courses in Planning Law, Climate Change Resilient City-Regions, Environmental Impact Assessment, Disaster Resilient City Planning, and Brownfield Redevelopment.
Dr. Paterson has been active in professional planning practice within Texas, providing multiple opportunities for professional development seminars and conferences for Texas APA planners. He has served on numerous state and regional planning advisory boards and task forces, the Texas APA Board as Awards Chair, and Education Foundation member. He has been the recipient of the School of Architecture’s Outstanding Lecturer and Community Service awards. Some of his more significant Central Texas community service projects include being the co-founder of the Central Texas Sustainability Indicators Project, the Principal Investigator on Sustainable Communities Partnership Implementation Grant to create an upgraded Envision Tomorrow Scenario Planning software suite that was beta tested in Central Texas, and the project lead on the Envision Central Texas Smart Growth Implementation expert system.
Current projects include (1) analysis improving urban resilience models to better incorporate triple loop learning and deep root cause analysis, (2) better defining a multi-level, multi-spatial, multi-temporal framework suitable to guide sustainable climate development and (3) operationalizing an improved conceptual framework to guide disaster resilient affordable housing.
EDUCATION
- B.A., Criminal Justice, Florida Atlantic University, 1984
- M.P.A., Growth Management, Florida Atlantic University, 1985
- Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1993
