Donald L. Elliott, FAICP

August 19, 2015

High Energy Urban Planner, Lawyer, and Solver of Complex Governance Challenges

Don is a Senior Consultant with Clarion Associates, LLC, based in the Denver office, and has been a member of the firm since 1995. He has assisted over 85 U.S. communities to update zoning and development regulations, with a particular focus on fair and affordable housing strategies.  Key projects have included first-in-a-generation zoning code rewrites for Detroit, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Albuquerque.  Don has also advised numerous local governments in Russia, Mongolia, and India on land use issues and served as the Democracy and Governance Advisor to the United States Agency for International Development in Uganda for two years.  He has managed planning and zoning projects that have been state-level award recipients from the American Planning Association in Colorado, Arizona, Indiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Virginia  He is the author of A Better Way to Zone (Island Press 2008), co-author of The Rules that Shape Urban Form (APA 2012) and The Citizen’s Guide to Planning (APA 2009) and has served as the editor of Colorado Land Planning and Development Law for 30 years.  Don teaches a graduate-level course on Land Use Regulation at the University of Colorado at Denver School of Architecture and Planning and is a member of the Denver Planning Board. He has a bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning and Policy Analysis from Yale University, a law degree from Harvard Law School, and a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.  Contact Don at delliott@clarionassociates.com.

  • How has your understanding of critical planning issues affected one of your lifestyle choices?: I walk to work!  It keeps one more car off the street, keeps me healthy, gives me the opportunity to pick up recyclables, and allows me time to think about long-term solutions to complex problems.
  • Recent read:  Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. A compelling summary of the unfairness baked into so many levels of our society.  And like everyone else: The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein. A powerful reminder of how easy it is to misuse the power of zoning.
  • Favorite city for a longer visit:  Beth and I loved the month we spent working remotely from Mexico City. What an incredibly pleasant, clean, livable world-class capital city – and what amazing food and museums.

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