Laura Dedenbach

Biography: I am passionate about safe and healthy communities. I have been a practicing planner in Florida for 20 years. Twelve years ago, I formed Dedenbach Planning Associates as a boutique planning firm specializing in small town and rural planning as well as expert witness testimony. I received my doctorate in urban and regional planning, with a graduate minor in anthropology, from UF. My dissertation research focused on gentrifying neighborhoods and their cultural and physical responses to crime and fear. My research interests include crime prevention and the built environment, urban resilience, neighborhood planning, effects of gentrification on neighborhood culture and stability, land use and comprehensive planning, issues of land use compatibility, and Latin American studies. I am a Lecturer and the Undergraduate and Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida.