Robert E. Lang

Co-Director, Metropolitan Institute
Associate Professor in Urban Affairs and Planning

Robert E. Lang is Co-Director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech in Alexandria, Virginia, and an Associate Professor in Urban Affairs and Planning in Virginia Tech’s School of Planning and International Affairs. Dr. Lang is the Editor of the scholarly journal Housing Policy Debate, which until recently was published by the Fannie Mae Foundation. He is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Planning Association.

In 2007, Dr. Lang was named a Senior Fellow of The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC and invited by Fulbright to become a Senior Specialist in 2008. In 2006, he was a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University. He is currently a Fellow of the Urban Land Institute. Dr. Lang was also recently a Planning and Development Fellow of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and a Visiting Fellow of the University of California. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Dr. Lang was Director of Urban and Metropolitan Research at the Fannie Mae Foundation in Washington, DC.

Dr. Lang received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Rutgers University, where he also taught sociology and urban studies. He was a Research Associate at the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University. Dr. Lang’s research specialties include, suburban studies, world cities, demographic and spatial analysis, housing and the built environment, and metropolitan governance. He has authored over 110 academic and professional publications on a wide range of topics, and has developed many new urban planning concepts such as “Boomburbs,” “Edgeless Cities,” and “Megapolitan Areas.” Dr. Lang has managed nearly 3 million dollars in research grants since 2000. He has also given over 150 talks since that date.

Dr. Lang’s research has been featured in the USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report and reported on by NPR, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, and ABC World News Tonight. Dr. Lang’s work includes the book Edgeless Cities: Exploring the Elusive Metropolis, which is published by the Brookings Institution Press. He is also co-author of three edited volumes on the census titled Redefining Urban and Suburban America: Evidence from Census 2000, also by the Brookings Institution Press. Dr. Lang’s newest book titled Boomburbs: the Rise of America’s Accidental Cities was published in June 2007.

Dr. Lang may be contacted at rlang@vt.edu.