Charlie Santo
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of City & Regional Planning, University of Memphis
Dr. Charlie Santo is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of City & Regional Planning, and Associate Director of the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Memphis. He currently holds the Dunavant Professorship and is the recipient of the University of Memphis Distinguished Research Award for Engaged Scholarship in 2016. He is Co-Chair of the FedEx Institute of Technology's Smart Cities Research Cluster. Charlie teaches courses that focus on urban economic analysis, public finance, and planning, and planning research methods. He is the co-editor of Sport and Public Policy: Social, Economic, and Political Perspectives and the author of multiple articles on public investment and urban revitalization that have appeared in the Journal of Urban Affairs, the Journal of Planning Education and Research, and Community Development. Before entering academia, Charlie worked as a principal planner for housing and neighborhood preservation with the City of Richmond, Virginia, where he coordinated the implementation of the city's innovative Neighborhoods in Bloom program, which was recognized with the HUD Secretary's Opportunity and Empowerment Award. His work on art-based community development in the Soulsville USA neighborhood has been internationally recognized and has generated substantial local investment by ArtPlace and the Kresge Foundation.
Dr. Charlie Santo's leadership activity and international/national committees
- Dunavant Professorship, University of Memphis, 2019-2022
- Co-director, SMART Cities research cluster, FedEx Institute of Technology, 2018
- Associate Director, School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, 2017-current
- Governing Board, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, 2018- current
- Editorial Board, Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement