Kelly Gregg

Kelly Gregg headshot.

Kelly Gregg

Kelly Gregg

Assistant Professor
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Overview

Kelly Gregg PhD, is an assistant professor of Urban Planning at University at Buffalo. Her place-based research is positioned at the intersection of urban planning, urban design, and landscape architecture. Specifically her work focuses on street design and pedestrian environments in both an historic and contemporary context. She has been interviewed and quoted in the New York Times for her expertise on pedestrianized streets, and for pedestrian safety on NPR and in the Buffalo News. Kelly currently serves as the co-director for the undergraduate environmental design program, track-chair for urban design for the Association of Colligate Schools of Planning (ACSP), faculty representative to the Western New York Chapter of the American Planning Association (WNY APA), and is a review co-editor for North America for Planning Perspectives.

Some of her recent publications on pedestrian streets include: a diachronic study of pedestrianization ideas and implementation in Antwerp, Belgium with co-author Conrad Kickert in Planning Perspectives in 2024; a study of post-war pedestrian malls in North America as a type of urban renewal in the Journal of Planning History in 2024, and an article addressing the history and evolution of downtown pedestrianization titled “Gruen vs. Gehl making the contemporary model of pedestrianization” which was published in the Journal of Urban Design in 2023.

Following extensive research on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on street design and public space, Kelly has published multiple articles. These include: a policy assessment of Covid Street Cafes in the Journal of the American Planning Association in 2024; an analysis of covid curbside café titled “Managing the curb – public space and use of curbside cafes during the Coronavirus pandemic” published in Cities in 2023; and a review of emergency street designs implemented during covid lockdowns tidied “North American Street Design for the Coronavirus Pandemic: a typology of emerging interventions” which was published in the Journal of Urbanism in 2022 and was the top cited article for the journal in 2024.

Kelly completed her PhD in Planning at the University of Toronto in 2019; she also holds a Master's Degree in Urban Planning (MUP) and Urban Design (MUD) from The University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) from The Pennsylvania State University. Prior to joining the faculty at Buffalo, Kelly taught first year common core courses for Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Architecture students at Ball State University. Also, Kelly previously managed technical service projects, program development, and assisted with studio teaching at the Niehoff Urban Studio and Community Design Center at the University of Cincinnati. While at the University of Michigan, she worked at The Graham Sustainability Institute, and assisted the Detroit Climate Action Collaborative (DCAC) in developing a community lead climate action plan for the City of Detroit. Shortly after Hurricane Sandy she also worked on urban design visioning for climate adaptation in Manhattan, NY, and this collaborative work has been featured in The Atlantic Cities in December 2012.