Lawrence J. (Larry) Vale has spent his entire twenty-year academic career at MIT, where he was been head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning from 2002- January 2009. Vale’s many books include three prize-winning volumes about urban design and housing, Architecture, Power, and National Identity (1992; 2nd edition, 2008); From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Public Neighbors (2000; 2007); and Reclaiming Public Housing: A Half Century of Struggle in Three Public Neighborhoods (2002).