Sheila R. Foster

Sheila R. Foster a Visiting Professor at Columbia University’s Climate School for the ’23-’24 academic year. Foster is well known for her articles and books on urban policy, land use, and environmental justice, including From the Ground Up:
Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement (with Luke Cole) and The Law of Environmental Justice (with Michael Gerrard).

Foster has worked with government agencies and public officials on a range of urban, environmental, and climate issues. She was the chair of the advisory committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors from 2017-2020 and is a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change where she co-chairs the workgroup on climate equity. Foster also co-directs LabGov, an international applied research laboratory that pioneered and nurtures the Co-City approach which has been adopted or experimented with in various cities around the world. The Co-City approach is set forth in her award-winning MIT Press book, Co-Cities: Innovative Transitions toward Just and Self-Sustaining Communities (with Christian Iaione). LabGov projects applying the Co-City methodology include places as diverse as Harlem, New York; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Bologna, Italy.

You can find out more about Foster at sheilarfoster.com.