Education: Sorbonne University, Paris, France 1980; BA, Sociology, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan 1980; MA, City and Regional Planning, Ohio State University 1984; PhD, The Achievement of Planning Goals, A Methodology for Evaluating the Success of Plans, University of California at Santa Barbara 1995

Career: Emily Talen has been Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 2003 and was Assistant Professor from 1999–2003. Between 2003 and 2006 she was Faculty Advisor to the Community Design Center at the University. From 1998–99, Dr Talen was Assistant Professor of Geography and Political Economy in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson. Before that she was Research Assistant Professor (half-time) at the Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University, Morgantown from 1995–98 and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology and Geography from 1996–98. Earlier she had been a Research Associate and a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara between 1990 and 1992, and before that a Lecturer at the College of Environmental Design, University of Colorado, Boulder from 1990–91. Dr Talen began her academic career as a Graduate Research Associate in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Ohio State University, Columbus in 1983. Professor Talen's research focuses on exploring the spatial patterns of American cities. She has also served as a Planning Intern with the Department of Development, Columbus, Ohio, a Planning Consultant with the Hilltop Area Commission, Columbus, an Assistant Director of the Columbus Neighborhood Design Assistance Center, a Project Planner with URS Corporation, Santa Barbara, and an Assistant Planner, later Redevelopment Planner, with the City of Santa Barbara Community Development. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the American Planning Association (National and Illinois Chapters), the American Association of Geographers, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, the Society for American City and Regional Planning History (Board member) and the Congress for the New Urbanism (National and Illinois Chapters; Board member, Illinois Chapter). Emily Talen is co-editor of the Journal of Urbanism (see url below) and a member of the Editorial Boards of Planning Theory & Practice, the Journal of Planning Literature, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design and the Journal of Urban Design. She is Book Review Editor of the Journal of Planning Literature.

Honours and awards: Dean's List, Calvin College 1977–80, Outstanding Student Project Award, Department of City and Regional Planning, Ohio State University 1983, Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara 1991–92

Publications include: New Urbanism and American Planning: The Conflict of Cultures 2005, The Design of Diversity: Planning and Design for Socially Mixed Neighborhoods 2007; Joint Guest Editor: Journal of Urban Design, Special Issue on the Transect; Volume 7, No. 3 2002, New Urban Post, Vol. VII, Urban Form: Searching for Balance 2004, International Regional Science Review, Special Issue on Smart Growth, Vol. 28, No. 2 2005; numerous book chapters and articles in professional journals

Contact details: Address: Room M230, Temple Buell Hall, 611 Taft Drive, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA; Tel: +1 217-244-9458; Fax: +1 217-244-1717; Email: talen@uiuc.edu ; Website: http://www.urban.uiuc.edu/index.html ; Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17549175.asp/ .