Galen Cranz is a professor of architecture at the College of Environmental Design

UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design

The College of Environmental Design, also known as the or simply is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. The school is located in Wurster Hall on the southeast corner of the main UC Berkeley campus...

 at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, who studies the social and cultural bases of architectural and urban design.

She is the author of "The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America" (1982), which surveys the rise of the park system from 1850 to the present through four stages -- "the pleasure ground, the reform park, the recreation facility and the open space system," and the 1998 book "The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design."