Professional Summary

Richard K. Norton is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning. He also holds a joint appointment as Professor with the University of Michigan's Program in the Environment, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He earned his Ph.D. in city and regional planning and his J.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with master degrees in public policy studies and environmental management from Duke University. Dr. Norton teaches and conducts research in the areas of planning law, sustainable development, land use and environmental planning, and coastal area management. His most recent research has focused on the challenges of managing shorelands along the Laurentian Great Lakes. He contributes actively to public service through community-engaged research and teaching, and by serving on the planning law committee of the Michigan Association of Planning (MAP). In that role he has taken the lead in preparing draft legislation for the Michigan Legislature to reform the state's planning and zoning enabling laws. He has also written friend-of-the-court appellate briefs to the Michigan Court of Appeals, the Michigan Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals (6th Cir.) on behalf of the American Planning Association and MAP regarding planning and zoning disputes in the state. Prior to completing his graduate studies, Dr. Norton worked in professional practice as a consulting environmental policy analyst and planner in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California.

Taubman College Faculty Web Page (with CV): https://taubmancollege.umich.edu/faculty/directory/richard-norton/ 

Selected Recent Publications

Shriberg, Mike, Richard K. Norton, Silvia Newell, Kat Cameron, & Abigail Merolle. 2025. Resourcing Michigan’s coastal decision-makers: An assessment of needs. Journal of Great Lakes Research. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2025.102512). 

Williams, Kathleen C., Scott P. Sowa, Matthew Child, Marc Gaden, Janette Anderson, David B. Bunnell, Paul Drca, Roger L. Knight, Richard K. Norton, Rachael F. Taylor. 2024. Improving how science informs policy within the ecosystem approach. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 27(2):27-48. (https://doi.org/10.14321/aehm.027.02.27).

Norton, Richard K., Lee Mueller, Emily Palacios, Kay Scheneder, & Mark Wyckoff. 2024. Who should pay to protect trees? Tree protection, regulatory takings, and unconstitutional conditions. Journal of the American Planning Association online. (https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2024.2404970).

Mack, Elizabeth A., Ethan J. Theuerkauf, Joshua Pepper, Richard K. Norton, Erin L. Bunting. 2024. Citizen perceptions of Great Lakes coastline change and management Efforts. Ocean & Coastal Management 225(1 Sept. 2024) 107243. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2024.107243)

Norton, Richard K., Guy A. Meadows, Oday Salim, Matthew Piggins, Philip Washburn, & Lauren Ashley Week. 2023. Armor or withdraw? Likely litigation and potential adjudication of shoreland conflicts along Michigan’s shifting Great Lakes coasts. Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law 12(2):153-289. (https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjeal/vol12/iss2/2/).

Dobie, Sarah, Patrick J. Dornan, Richard K. Norton, Sara Hughes, and Maeghan J. Goode. 2022. Defining coastal resilience in the Great Lakes: A systematic review and critical comparison. Journal of Great Lakes Research 48(6):1361-1374 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2022.08.001).

Norton, Richard K. 2022. Toward science-informed public policy: A conceptual framework for contributing to and studying Great Lakes coastal management. Journal of Great Lakes Research 48(6):1345-1360 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2022.07.003).

Norton, Richard K. 2022. Planning for resilient and sustainable coastal shorelands and communities in the face of global climate change. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Water Resources and Management Policy (https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.817).

Norton, Richard K. 2020. Dynamic coastal shoreland zoning: Adapting fastland zoning for naturally shifting coastal shores. Zoning Practice 37(3):1-7 (https://www.planning.org/publications/document/9196862/).

Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem, Jenna Tyler, Douglas S. Noonan, Richard K. Norton, Shannon E. Cunniff, and Jeffrey Czajkowski. 2020. Review of the Federal Emergency Agency’s Community Rating System Program. Natural Hazards Review 21(1):03119001 (https://DOI/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000320).

Norton, Richard K., Stephen Buckman, Guy Meadows, and Zach Rable. 2019. Using simple, decision-centered, scenario-based planning to improve local coastal management. Journal of the American Planning Association 85(4):405-423 (https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2019.1627237).

Norton, Richard K., and Nancy H. Welsh. 2019. Reconciling police power prerogatives, public trust interests, and private property rights along Laurentian Great Lakes shores. Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law 8(2):409-476 (https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjeal/vol8/iss2/4/).

Norton, Richard K., Nina P. David, Stephen Buckman, and Patricia D. Koman. 2018. Overlooking the coast: Limited local planning along Michigan’s Great Lakes shores. Land Use Policy 71(2018):183-203 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.11.049).