CHARLES C. BOHL
Director, Knight Program in Community Building

Charles C. Bohl is a research associate professor and director of the Knight Program in Community Building at the University of Miami’s School of Architecture.

The Knight Program brings together outstanding scholars, architects, designers, community leaders, policymakers, theorists and practitioners with an active interest in the interdisciplinary process of community building and its relationship to the built environment of American villages, towns, cities and suburbs. The program builds on the strengths of the School of Architecture as an international leader in the planning and design of livable communities and its role as a center for learning on New Urbanism and Smart Growth. In his role as director, Professor Bohl oversees all of the Knight Program’s activities including fellowship seminars and study tours held in cities throughout the United States, an annual symposium, an annual charrette, the work of graduate scholars in the Suburb and Town Design Program, and publications sponsored by the Knight Program.

Before joining the University of Miami Professor Bohl taught in the fields of planning and architecture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and North Carolina State University’s School of Design. He was also a Senior Research Associate at UNC’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies where he established an interdisciplinary research program on Smart Growth and the New Economy, and served as senior fellow for the Weiss Urban Livability Program at the University of North Carolina.

Professor Bohl has published across disciplines with funding from the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, the Urban Land Institute, and the North Carolina Department of Social Services and Department of Community Affairs. His book, Placemaking: Town Centers, Main Streets and Transit Villages, was published by the Urban Land Institute (2002). Professor Bohl also consults in the fields of planning and urban design, and most recently worked with Duany Plater-Zyberk on the Downtown Fort Myers Plan which was adopted by the City Council in 2002.

Professor Bohl has organized several conferences including Traditional Urbanism Reconsidered (UNC-Chapel Hill), Reinventing the Mall (Durham, North Carolina), The Rural-Urban Transect Symposium (in conjunction with the Yale School of Architecture, New Haven, Connecticut), The Laws of the Indies (co-sponsored with New Mexico APA and the University of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico), and Civic Art 2002 (Miami Beach, Florida). He has also organized and managed charrettes including the South Square Mall Charrette (Durham, North Carolina), Beall’s Hill Charrette (Macon, Georgia), Coral Gables Charrette (Coral Gables, Florida), and the Evergreen-Eastridge Charrette (San Jose, Caifornia).

Prior to launching his academic career, Professor Bohl worked as an economic developer for a major utility company in upstate New York.

Books:

Place Making: Developing Town Centers, Main Streets, and Urban Villages (ULI, 2002)