John F. Forester
John F. Forester (1948–) is an author, professor, and city planner. He is currently a Professor in the City and Regional Planning Department at Cornell University. His work is centered on politics, power, and ethics in the planning process, which he explores through the oral histories of planners and public dispute mediators.
He is the author of several books on participatory planning, many of which are foundational in the field, including Planning in the Face of Power (University of California Press, 1988); The Deliberative Practitioner: Making Participatory Planning Work (The MIT Press, 1999); and Planning in the Face of Conflict: The Surprising Possibilities of Facilitative Leadership (Routledge, 2017). His most recent work is How Spaces Become Places: Place Makers Tell Their Stories (New Village Press, 2021)
After serving for 20 years as a mediator for the Community Dispute Resolution Center of Tompkins County, he consulted for the Consensus Building Institute and continues to lecture around the world. Forester lives in Ithaca, NY.