The Des Lee Professor of Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, (UMSL), Todd Swanstrom specializes in urban politics and public policy. He has an MA from Washington University (1971) and a Ph.D. from Princeton (1981). Prior to joining UMSL, Todd taught at Saint Louis University and the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany (SUNY). He also worked as a neighborhood planner in Cleveland and as the Director of Strategic Planning for the City of Albany, NY.
Todd’s book, The Crisis of Growth Politics: Cleveland, Kucinich, and the Challenge of Urban Populism (Temple University Press, 1985) won the Best Book Award from the Urban Section and Policy of APSA. His co-authored Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-first Century (U. Press of Kansas, 3rd edition, 2014) won the Michael Harrington Award from the New Politics Section of APSA. In 2011, he published a co-edited volume, Justice and the American Metropolis (University of Minnesota Press), which develops the idea of “thick injustice.” In 2023 his co-authored book, The Changing American Neighborhood: The Meaning of Place in the Twenty-First Century, was published with Cornell U. Press.
Currently Todd’s research focuses on housing deterioration as a form of environmental injustice and the prospects for the anchor strategy to turn around disinvested neighborhoods. Todd used the resources of his endowed professorship to support the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis, which is working to build great neighborhoods throughout the St. Louis region. He currently supports the St. Louis Anchor Action Network, a coalition of 16 anchor institutions in the St. Louis region working to revitalize 22 disinvested ZIP Codes in North St. Louis City and County.
Professor in Community Collaboration and Public Policy, and Graduate Director for Political Science
