Ellen Bassett

​Associate Professor in Urban and Environmental Planning

Bassett holds three degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison: a PhD and MS in Urban and Regional Planning and an MA in History. Her first degree in History and Political Science was earned at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Her areas of research interest and expertise are land use planning and law, climate change planning, health and the built environment, and international development. She is particularly interested in community decision-making around land and natural resources, including understanding how different societies and cultures create institutions (like property rights systems or policies) for their management.
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One current research project is focused on planning reform in Kenya, a topic for which she received support from the US Fulbright program during the 2013-2014 academic year. In a nutshell, in the last several years Kenya has radically reformed its system of governance by passing a new Constitution and establishing a new form of local government known as “devolution.” Her research is looking at these changes relative to urban land management and physical planning, with the overarching objective of understanding what these institutional changes mean for urban areas and for urban residents, including slum dwellers.