Mark Vallianatos

Advisor, Urban Planning Law and Policy

Mark is a policy analyst, public intellectual, academic, and frequent commentator on planning, housing, and related urban policy issues. In addition to working with Politas, he is the Director of LAplus, a civic organization that inspires and advances Los Angeles' positive urban future. He is also cofounder and Policy Director for Abundant Housing LA, a volunteer organization that supports more housing of all types in the Los Angeles region. Mark serves on the Zoning Advisory Committee to recode LA, the City of Los Angeles' process to rewrite its zoning code. He is also a member of the steering committee of the Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign.

Mark previously taught urban policy at Occidental College and was Policy Director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental. Before moving to Los Angeles, he worked on the environmental impacts of international trade and investment agreements.

Mark has researched and published on zoning, housing policy, planning, food vending, smart cities, climate policy, multi-modal transportation, food access, and other topics. He has been interviewed or published commentary in the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, KCRW, KPCC, Bloomberg, PBS SoCal, Streetsblog, Curbed, and other outlets.

Mark enjoys partnering with diverse advocacy, urban design, governmental, business, and academic institiutions to work on shared approaches to complex urban policy challenges. He is particularly interested in drawing from urban history, contemporary best practices, and promising future innovations to develop good policy. 

Mark is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia School of Law.