Galen Cranz is a professor of architecture at the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley,[1] 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," [2] and the 1998 book "The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design."