Susan Fainstein was appointed Professor of Urban Planning as of July 1, 2006. She was previously Professor of Urban Planning and Acting Director of the Graduate Program in Urban Planning at Columbia University and was a long-time faculty member in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy Development at Rutgers University.

Widely regarded as a leading figure in the field of urban planning, Fainsteins teaching and research have focused on the politics and economics of urban redevelopment, tourism, comparative urban and social policy, planning theory, and issues of gender and planning. Among her books are Urban Political Movements (Prentice-Hall, 1974), Restructuring the City (Longman, 1986), and The City Builders: Property, Politics, and Planning in London and New York (University Press of Kansas, 2001). Books she has co-edited (and to which she has contributed chapters) include Divided Cities: New York and London in the Contemporary World (Blackwell, 1992), The Tourist City (Yale University Press, 1999), Readings in Urban Theory (Blackwell, 2001), Readings in Planning Theory (Blackwell, 2003), Cities and Visitors (Blackwell, 2004), and Gender and Planning (Rutgers University Press, 2005). In 2010 Cornell University Press published her newest book, The Just City..

Fainstein currently serves on the editorial boards of nine book series and journals. In 2004 she received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, in recognition of excellence in scholarship, teaching, and service.

Fainstein received her A B from Harvard and her Ph D in political science from MIT.