Robert D. Yaro
Robert D. Yaro has served as Executive Director of Regional Plan Association since 1990. He will assume RPA's presidency in January 2002. Headquartered in Manhattan, RPA has shaped the development of the New York metropolitan region for more than 75 years. He led the five-year effort to prepare RPA's Third Regional Plan, A Region at Risk, which he co-authored in 1996. The plan sets forth strategies required to sustain the vitality and quality of life of North America's largest metropolitan area, through investments in infrastructure, communities and the environment and government reform.
Mr. Yaro is now leading efforts to promote the plan's implementation. Major initiatives include development of a new regional rail system for the New York region, creation of urban and regional park systems in New York Harbor, Long Island Sound and the New Jersey-New York Highlands, and redesign of urban and suburban centers.
Mr. Yaro taught urban and regional planning at Harvard University from 1996 to 2001. In 1998 he held visiting professor chairs at the University of Virginia and the University of Buffalo. From 1991 to 1995 he was Adjunct Professor of Urban Planning at Columbia University.
From 1985 to 1989 Mr. Yaro was Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and founder and Director of the University's Center for Rural Massachusetts. In this role he initiated Growing Smart in Massachusetts, the nation's first statewide smart growth initiative. His 1988 book, Dealing with Change in the Connecticut River Valley received awards from the American Planning Association, the Nation Trust for Historic Preservation and other groups.
From 1976 to 1984 Mr. Yaro served as Chief Planner and Deputy Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management. In this capacity he developed the nation's first large open space bonds and innovative park and preservation initiatives, including the 14-city Urban Heritage State Park system. Prior to this he worked as an urban planner for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, where he participated in the City's neighborhood revitalization and waterfront redevelopment programs.
He is on the board of directors of the Institute for Urban Design and the Growth Management Institute. Mr. Yaro has received awards from the American Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a fellow of the Salzburg Congress on Urban Planning and Development and the Institute for Urban Design.
He holds a Masters Degree in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University and a Bachelors Degree in Urban Studies from Wesleyan University.