Staff and Center Associates

Dr. Sarah L. Coffin

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Public Policy Studies
Saint Louis University
3750 Lindell Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63108
Phone: (314) 977-3930
Fax: (314) 977-1616
Email: coffinsl@slu.edu

Dr. Sarah L. Coffin is a former postdoctoral research associate with the Center and currently teaches environmental and land use planning at Saint Louis University. Her research interests include new uses for brownfields in low-income communities and the various ways in which communities and researchers have framed the urban sprawl debate. Additionally, she is interested in the ways in which the US Department of Housing and Urban Development incorporates the concept of social capital into their framework for affordable housing and urban policy. Dr. Coffin holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Master’s degree in Urban Planning, Design, and Development from Cleveland State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Lake Erie College.

Her work includes the following published research and conference reports:

• "Closing the Brownfield Information Gap: Some Practical Methods for Identifying Brownfields" Forthcoming in the March 2003 issue of the Journal of Environmental Practice.
• "The Brownfields-Housing Connection: A Problem in Need of a Solution?" Forthcoming in the Winter 2003 issue of Sustain.
• "Modeling the Brownfield Relationship to Property Values and Community Revitalization" Presented at the 5th Symposium of the International Urban Planning and the Environment Association. September 23-26, Oxford, England
• "Social Housing and Brownfields: Are There Lessons to be Learned from a US/Eurpean Perspective?" Presented at the XVI Association of European Planning Schools Congress, July 10-15, 2002, Volos, Greece.
• The Brownfields Reality Check: A Study of Brownfields and Section 8 Households. Presented at the 43rd Annual Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference, November, 2001.
• Industrial Era’s Brownfield Legacy: Characterizing the Redevelopment Challenge (with Dr. Nancey Green Leigh), Journal of Urban Technology. (2000) 7:3 pp 1–18.
• Overcoming Barriers to Brownfield Redevelopment: Lessons Learned from Two Great Lakes States (Dr. Anne Shepherd), Journal of Public Works Management and Policy. (1998) 2:3 pp 258–266.

Dr. Coffin continues to collaborate with the Center on brownfields and urban sprawl related research. Her hobbies include running, snow skiing, hiking, and international travel and she remains an avid supporter and fan of her hometown, Cleveland, OH.