John Friedmann is an honorary professor at the School of Community and Regional Planning in the Faculty of Applied Sciences and continues as an emeritus professor of UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. He was the Founding chair of the Department of Planning at UCLA in 1969. A much published author in development planning, planning theory, regional planning, and urbanism his more recent research has been on China’s urban transformation. He has received many distinctions and honors, including an appointment as Honorary Foreign Advisor of the Chinese Academy of Urban Planning and Design; the Distinguished Planning Educator Award of the American Collegiate Schools of Planning; three honorary doctorates (Dortmund Technical University, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and York University, Ontario); the UN-Habitat Lecture Award; Order “Bernardo O’Higgins” in Rank of Commander, Government of the Republic of Chile; and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has held visiting professorships in Latin America, Australia, the United States, and Asia. His most recent book publications include China’s Urban Transition (Minnesota, 2005) and Insurgencies: Essays in Planning Theory (Routledge 2011).