About Bill Fulton, FAICP
With decades of experience, Bill Fulton, FAICP, is one of America’s major thought leaders on land use, economic development, and urban development. During his career he has worked on hundreds of projects for dozens of clients with a focus on rigorous analysis, accessible work products, and action-oriented outcomes. In 2009, he was named one of Planetizen’s Top 100 Urban Thinkers.
In addition to his work at William Fulton Group, Bill is a Senior Advisor to PFM Management and Budgeting Consulting, a Fellow at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, and a Professor of Practice in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego.​​​
In California, Bill has served as Mayor of Ventura, California, and Director of Planning and Economic Development for the City of San Diego. In Texas, he was Director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University for eight years. In Washington, D.C., he served as Vice President of Policy and Implementation at the advocacy group Smart Growth America.
Bill is also the author of eight books, including The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl (with Peter Calthorpe) and Guide to California Planning, the standard urban planning textbook in California (sixth edition published in 2022). His latest book, Place and Prosperity: How Cities Help Us Connect And Innovate, was published by Island Press in 2022.
Bill holds master’s degrees in Mass Communication from The American University and urban planning from UCLA. He is also a trained meeting and process facilitator.