Professor Pooley’s research focuses on the “Geography of Opportunity” (which neighborhoods offer residents access to the types of amenities and resources that translate into upward economic mobility), and how this geography overlaps with the availability of affordable housing and patterns of residential segregation. Through Lehigh’s Small Cities Lab, she is also involved in research on alley housing, urban heat, transportation planning, air quality, and greenspace.
Karen Beck Pooley
Professor of Practice
Director, Community Fellows graduate program
Director, Environmental Policy program
Director, Master of Public Policy program
610-758-2637
kbp312@lehigh.edu
STEPS 384
Education:
Ph.D. in City Planning, School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, 2007
M.S. in Urban Planning and Policy, Robert J. Milano Graduate School, New School University, 2001
B.A. in Political Science, Wellesley College, 1998
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Research Areas
Additional Interests
- City planning
- Housing and Community Development
- Urban Politics
Research Statement
Biography
Karen Beck Pooley is a Professor of Practice of Political Science, teaching courses on city planning, community and economic development, and housing policy. She also directs the Environmental Policy Master’s Program and Community Fellows Program, and is Co-Director of Lehigh’s Small Cities Lab. Before coming to Lehigh, she ran Allentown’s Redevelopment Authority and was a Deputy Director within New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and she works with czb LLC, an urban planning and neighborhood revitalization consulting firm.
Pooley, K. B. (2014). Using Community Development Block Grant dollars to revitalize neighborhoods: The impact of program spending in Philadelphia. Housing Policy Debate, 24(1), 172-191.
Pooley, K. B. (2016). Debunking the “cookie-cutter” myth for suburban places and suburban poverty: Analyzing their variety and recent trends. In The New American Suburb (pp. 39-78). Routledge.
Mallach, A., & Pooley, K. B. (2018). What Drives Neighborhood Revival?: Qualitative Research Findings from Baltimore and St. Louis. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
“Who has Access to Greater Atlanta’s Geography of Opportunity?” presented at the Atlanta Studies Symposium 2024 in Atlanta (GA), April 12, 2024.
Teaching
POLS (AAS/EVST) 305/405: Residential Segregation (Fall)
POLS (EVST) 312/412: Urban Environmental Policy Workshop (Fall)
POLS (EVST/HMS) 110: Environmental Planning for Health Cities (Spring)
POLS (EVST) 319/419: Mapping Data for Policymaking (Spring)
POLS 464: Community Fellowship 1 (Fall)
POLS 465: Community Fellowship 2 (Summer)