Dr. Yonn Dierwechter serves as Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Washington at Tacoma. He researches urban and political geography, especially critical geographies of comparative regional planning practices; state/space relationships; planning theory and spatial management systems; and the theoretical and policy links between urban growth management/smart growth, sustainability and political regionalism. His first book, Urban Growth Management and its Discontents: Promises, Practices and Geo-politics in US City-Regions, was published by Palgrave in 2008.