U    R    B    A    N   I    N    T    E    L    L    I    G    E    N    C    E

Books

Principles of Urban Retail Planning and Development

John Wiley and Sons, 2011

Book Contributions

New Urbanism & Beyond                Sustainable Urbanism

Tigran Hass, Ed.                                 Douglas Farr, Ed.

Ten Principles for Developing Successful Town Centers

Urban Land Institute

Smart Code Manual  and The SmartCode Retail Module

SmartCode Institute

Publications

Atlantic Monthly                                 New York Times

Albuquerque Journal                         New Urban News  

Better Cities & Towns                     Orange County Register

Charleston Business Journal            Palm Beach Daily News                

Chain Store Age                                  Planning Magazine

Chicago Tribune                                 Portland Oregonian

Consumers Report                             Shopping Centers Today                  

Crain’s Detroit Business                    Urban Land Institute 

Detroit News                                       USA Today

Governing Magazine                          Wall Street Journal

ICSC Research Magazine               Washington Post

Los Angeles Times                    

Professional Associations

American Institute of Certified Planners

American Planning Association

American Society of Landscape Architects

Congress for the New Urbanism, Charter Member

CNU-Michigan, Board Member

Form Based Code Institute, Board Member

International Council of Shopping Centers

Urban Land Institute 

Prior Experience

JJR/SmithGroup

Taubman Centers

Robert J. Gibbs AICP, ASLA, CNU-A

President, GPG

Profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Urban Land, Gibbs has, writes The Atlantic Monthly, “a commercial sensibility unlike anything possessed by the urban planners who usually design downtown-renewal efforts.” He is also a recognized leader in the New Urbanism, having pioneered the implementation of its environmentally sustainable
principles of Traditional Town Planning and Smart Growth.

For the past 25 years, 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. He also planned Michigan’s first ten New Urban communities and Form Based Codes. A speaker at the First Congress of the New Urbanism in 1992 and eight subsequent CNUs, Gibbs lectures frequently throughout the country. He is the author of "Principles of Urban Retail Planning and Development" and the SmartCode "Retail Module," 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 for his planning innovations. 

Before Gibbs founded GPG in 1988, he gained invaluable expertise in retail planning by advising shopping center developers on the psychology of commerce—the practical science of analyzing and adjusting all elements known to affect a shopper's mood in the marketplace. From this experience, Gibbs distilled the fundamental retail and merchandising principles for reviving retail in moribund downtowns and for instilling successful
commerce in new ones.

Gibbs serves as GPG’s president , supervising all operations, planning, and research. 

Education

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Michigan

                Master of Landscape Architecture

Oakland University, Auburn Hills, Michigan

                Bachelor of Arts in History