Biography

Jim SchwabJim Schwab, AICP, works with the American Planning Association in Chicago,
where he serves as:

His career reflects his double penchant. At the University of Iowa, he obtained master's degrees in both urban and regional planning and journalism. He has combined these skills in his writing, using the analytical skills of the planner and the narrative skills of the journalist to probe major social, economic, and environmental issues.
Jim’s newest publication is Hazard Mitigation: Integrating Best Practices into Planning, for which he was the project editor and a principal author. Released in May 2010, it is the result of a 30-month APA contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Other contributors to the project included Kenneth C. Topping, a veteran California planner, and David R. Godschalk, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina, and a long-time leader on hazard mitigation issues, as well as three APA staff members. FEMA has extended the APA contract for another year to include development of an audio/web conference scheduled for March 2011.
This work is the latest from the APA Hazards Planning Research Center, part of APA’s National Centers for Planning. Although the National Centers are a relatively recent APA initiative, Jim’s involvement in hazards dates back to 1993, when he took charge of a new project that resulted in the publication, Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction, released in early 1999. This became Jim’s signature work in the hazards field as its primary author. The Planning Advisory Service Report (No. 483/484) is a guidance document for local planners with contributions of case studies from four other authors. Co-published by the American Planning Association and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it became, in the words of one of its prepublication reviewers, "the definitive work in this field for at least the next ten years." At the same time, APA also published his monograph, Planning and Zoning for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (PAS Report 484).
Over time, Jim has expanded APA’s profile in planning for natural hazards, and the presence of its Hazards Planning Research Center, to include work on wildfires, landslides, and other hazards, with overseas outreach work (see Photo Essays) in the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and New Zealand, as well as the U.S. Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike.  He has spoken in numerous venues in the U.S. and abroad.

Jim's two books to date are Raising Less Corn and More Hell: Midwestern Farmers Speak Out (University of Illinois Press, 1988) and Deeper Shades of Green: The Rise of Blue-Collar and Minority Environmentalism in America (Sierra Club Books, 1994). The first was essentially an oral history of the farm protest of the 1980s that challenged widespread farm bankruptcies and liquidations. The second examined the often invisible movement within African-American, Hispanic, and other minority communities, as well as white blue-collar neighborhoods, to fight industrial pollution and protect public health. He is currently developing plans for a book about the 1993 and 2008 Midwest floods and would love to hear from anyone with thoughts or useful information to contribute on the subject. (See News.)Jim Schwab in New Zealand
Jim’s long list of articles for national journals and magazines appears under Publications. From 1992-1996, he edited APA's environmental planning newsletter, Environment & Development; since 1990, he has also edited APA's Zoning News (now Zoning Practice), a monthly newsletter on zoning issues. He was formerly assistant editor of APA's monthly magazine, Planning.
He is a past President of the Society of Midland Authors (1997-99), and has served in many capacities including as SMA's membership secretary, vice-president, and currently, a board member and perennial judge in the annual book awards contest.  
Jim has a B.A. in Political Science from Cleveland State University, and M.A.s in both Journalism and Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Iowa. In recent years, he has been serving as adjunct faculty at both the University of Illinois-Chicago and the University of Iowa, teaching graduate-level urban planning classes on planning for disasters.
Jim is married to Jean Schwab, a retired Chicago Public Schools teacher. They have two adopted daughters, as well as two former foster daughters.