Karen Chapple

Karen Chapple, Ph.D., is Director of the School of Cities and Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. Chapple studies inequalities in the planning, development, and governance of cities and regions throughout the Americas. Her recent publications include “Pandemic polycentricity? Mobility and migration patterns across New York over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic” in the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society and “Can we save the downtown? Examining Pandemic Recovery and Polycentricity Trajectories across 62 North American Cities” in Cities. In Summer 2022, Chapple launched www.downtownrecovery.com to track pandemic recovery patterns in North American downtowns. Chapple is a Professor Emerita of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as department chair. A recipient of multiple awards, including the 2023 Regional Studies Association’s Sir Peter Hall Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field, Chapple holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Columbia University, an M.S.C.R.P from the Pratt Institute, and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley.