Robert Gibbs, AICP, ASLA, CNU-A

Robert Gibbs is a leading urban planning consultant who has contributed to master plans across the U.S.  He also planned Michigan’s first ten New Urban communities and Form-Based Codes.  He founded Gibbs Planning Group (GPG) in 1988, and is a recognized leader in the New Urbanism, having pioneered the implementation of its environmentally sustainable principles of Traditional Town Planning and Smart Growth.  Gibbs has been active in developing innovative yet practical methods for applying modern trends in commercial development to more than 400 town centers and historic cities here and abroad, and lectures frequently throughout the country.  He is the author of Principles of Urban Retail Planning and Development and the Retail Module of the SmartCode, and has contributed articles to numerous books and publications.  For the past 20 years, he has taught “Urban Retail Planning” in the Executive Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 2012, Gibbs was honored by the Clinton Presidential Library for his life’s contributions to urban planning and development and by the City of Auckland, New Zealand. Gibbs serves as GPG’s president, supervising all operations, planning and research, and is on the Board of Directors for the Michigan chapter of the CNU.