Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell

Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell serves as Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of California San Diego, where she directs undergraduate education and founded the Homelessness Hub in 2022. Her academic leadership spans teaching, research, and community engagement focused on critical urban challenges.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Urban Planning, University of California Los Angeles
• Master of Regional Planning, Cornell University
• B.A. in Architecture (minor in City Planning), University of California Berkeley

Rabinowitz Bussell's research centers on affordable housing, homelessness, local community development, planning-real estate intersections, and place-based philanthropy. Her work emphasizes data-driven approaches to inform policy, particularly through the Homelessness Hub's research on San Diego's homelessness crisis. She employs mixed-methods evaluation to assess interventions like safe parking programs and community development initiatives.

Her publication trends reveal consistent focus on comparative philanthropy models (especially US-Canada analyses), transnational community development frameworks, and equity-centered university-community partnerships. Recent work examines nonprofit housing models across San Diego and Frankfurt, while earlier scholarship established foundational frameworks for comprehensive community initiatives through award-winning books.

Scientific Awards:

• Paul D. and Barbara J. Saltman Distinguished Teaching Award (UC San Diego)
• Community Development Society's 2014 Current Research Award for Catalysts for Change

Rabinowitz Bussell actively bridges academia and practice through board service with the California Planning Foundation and California Planning Roundtable. She has developed innovative experiential courses including Life Course Scholars and Urban Challenges: Homelessness in San Diego, while directing the Homelessness Hub's policy-focused research agenda. Her NAIOP Research Foundation fellowship produced influential work on DEI in commercial real estate, demonstrating applied research impact across multiple sectors.

The Homelessness Hub operates as her primary research collective, conducting evaluations of programs like Jewish Family Service's Safe Parking initiative while fostering university-community partnerships through the 'Rooted University Approach' framework developed in her 2020 publications.