The Des Lee Professor of Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, (UMSL), Todd Swanstrom specializes in urban politics and public policy. He has an MA from Washington University (1971) and a Ph.D. from Princeton (1981). Prior to joining UMSL, Todd taught at Saint Louis University and the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany (SUNY). He also worked as a neighborhood planner in Cleveland and as the Director of Strategic Planning for the City of Albany, NY.
Todd’s book, The Crisis of Growth Politics: Cleveland, Kucinich, and the Challenge of Urban Populism (Temple University Press, 1985) won the Best Book Award from the Urban Section and Policy of APSA. His co-authored Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-first Century (U. Press of Kansas, 3rd edition, 2014) won the Michael Harrington Award from the New Politics Section of APSA. In 2011, he published a co-edited volume, Justice and the American Metropolis (University of Minnesota Press), which develops the idea of “thick injustice.” In 2023 his co-authored book, The Changing American Neighborhood: The Meaning of Place in the Twenty-First Century, was published with Cornell U. Press.
Currently Todd's research focuses on housing deterioration and home repair. He is the co-editor and contributor to The Other Housing Crisis: Ending the Deterioration and Loss of Affordable Homes(Princeton University Press, 2026). His research on the need for home repairs among older homeowners in St. Louis helped jumpstart the formation of the St. Louis Home Repair Network (HRN). Todd serves on the Executive Committee of HRN.
Professor in Community Collaboration and Public Policy
