Dan Abramson

Dan Abramson joined the faculty of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington in September 2001, having conducted research and taught classes as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia's Centre for Human Settlements and School of Community and Regional Planning.  He holds a B.A. degree in History from Harvard University; masters degrees in Architecture and City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and he obtained his doctorate from Tsinghua University while conducting research and planning in Beijing and other Chinese cities from 1992 to 1997.  He was the first American to earn a degree in urban planning from a Chinese university (and possibly the first American to earn any mainland Chinese graduate-level degree).  He serves as Secretary on the Board of the International Association for China Planning (IACP).

In the UW Department of Urban Design and Planning, Prof. Abramson teaches second-year Urban Design Studio; Site Planning; research and community engagement methods for neighborhood planning and urban design; globalization and planning in Asian and Pacific Rim cities; and an Urban Design Exchange with the University of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver.  His research interests and publishing topics include impacts of globalization on planning and design practice, and democratic and intercultural action in community planning and design.

In China, Prof. Abramson has participated in neighborhood and urban district-level planning, including a Ford Foundation-funded community-based preservation and revitalization planning project in Quanzhou, and has joined or led numerous field studios for planning and architecture students in China.  In the U.S. and Canada, he has hosted delegations of Chinese urban planners and managers from Quanzhou and Yangzhou, Jiangsu, and from the Chinese Academy of Urban Planning and Design in Beijing. Prior to working in China, he conducted research, planning, design, and project management for housing and neighborhood development, rehabilitation and preservation in Massachusetts and in Poland.

Selected Publications

Abramson D (accepted for publication), “The Aesthetics of City-scale Preservation Policy in Beijing,” Planning Perspectives

Abramson D, Manzo L, Hou J (accepted for publication), “From Ethnic Enclave to Multi-ethnic Translocal Community: Constructed Identities and Urban Design in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District,” Journal of Architectural and Planning Research

Abramson D, Anderson S, 2006, “Planning for the Urban Edge in Quanzhou, Fujian: Foreshadowing an Enablement Approach to Village Urbanization,” Projections: the MIT Journal of Planning 5 (June) 9-26

Abramson D, 2006, “Urban Planning in China: Continuity and Change,” Journal of the American Planning Association 72(2) 197-215

Abramson D, 2005, “The ‘Studio Abroad’ as a Mode of Trans-cultural Engagement in Urban Planning: A Reflection on Nine Years of Sino-Canadian Educational Exchange,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 25(1) 89-102

Leaf, M, Abramson D, 2002, “Global Networks, Civil Society and the Transformation of the Urban Core in Quanzhou, China,” in Southern California and the World Eds E Heikkila and R Pizarro (Praeger, Boulder, CO) 153-178

Abramson D, Leaf M, Tan Y, 2002, “Social Research and the Localization of Chinese Urban Planning Practice:  Some Ideas from Quanzhou, Fujian,” in The New Chinese City: Globalization and Market Reform Ed J R Logan (Blackwell, Oxford) 167-180

Abramson D, 2002, “Community Development and Urban Planning: A North American View of the Issues in China,” in Zhongguo He Jianada De Shequ Fazhan (Community Development in China and Canada), Eds Q Chen, P Jiang (Minzu Chubanshe (Nationalities Press), Beijing) 64-74.

Abramson D, 2002, “The Dilapidation and Redevelopment of Beijing's Traditional Neighbourhoods,” in The Horizontal Skyscraper Eds B Erring, H Høyem, S Vinsrygg (Tapir Academic Press, Trondheim) 47-55

Abramson D, 2001, “Beijing’s Preservation Policy and the Fate of the Siheyuan,” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 13(1) 7-22

Abramson D, 1998, “Neighborhood Redevelopment as a Cultural Problem:  A Western Perspective on Current Plans for the Old City of Beijing,” in Jianzhu Xuebao (Journal of Architecture) 354 (February) 47-49

Abramson D, 1997, “‘Marketization’ and Institutions in Chinese Inner-city Neighborhood Redevelopment: A Commentary on ‘Beijing’s Old and Dilapidated Housing Renewal’ by Lü Junhua,” Cities 14(2) 71-75

Abramson D, 1995, “Participatory Planning with a Polish Housing Cooperative: the Context Set by Political Reconstruction,” Open House International 20(1) 35-41

Abramson D, 1994, “New Housing in Old Beijing: A Comparative Survey of Projects to Date,” China City Planning Review 10(3) 42-56