Rate My Professor Dowell Myers

Dowell Myers is Professor Emeritus in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, where he serves as Professor of policy, planning, and demography. He also holds an appointment as Professor of Public Policy and Sociology in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Myers earned his Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981, following a Master of City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in anthropology from Columbia University. His career includes directing the Population Dynamics Research Group, serving as Director of the Master of Planning Program, and acting as Faculty Associate at the Lusk Center for Real Estate. He has advised the Bureau of the Census, been an academic fellow of the Urban Land Institute, and served on the Governing Board of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. As a specialist in urban growth and societal change with expertise as a planner and urban demographer, Myers emphasizes future-oriented research that integrates demography with public policy concerns such as housing and immigration.

In the field of Social Science, Myers' research addresses demographic change, immigration and assimilation, ethnic diversity trends, housing impacts, workforce dynamics, and generational shifts, with a particular focus on California and the United States. His seminal books include Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America (Russell Sage Foundation, 2007), Analysis with Local Census Data: Portraits of Change (Academic Press, 1992), and Housing Demography: Linking Demographic Structure and Housing Markets (editor, University of Wisconsin Press, 1990). Notable articles feature "Aging Baby Boomers and the Generational Housing Bubble: Foresight and Mitigation of an Epic Transition" (Journal of the American Planning Association, 2008), "Peak Millennials: Three Reinforcing Cycles that Amplify the Rise and Fall of Urban Concentration by Millennials" (Housing Policy Debate, 2016), "Housing Shortages and the New Downturn of Residential Mobility in the US" (Housing Studies, 2021), and "Misalignment of Housing Growth and Population Trends: Cohort Size and Lagging Measurements through Recession and Recovery" (RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2025). Myers has received the Haynes Award for Research Impact and is a Fellow of the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy. His work, cited over 7,800 times on Google Scholar, influences policy through annual PopDynamics reports and contributions to editorial boards, shaping narratives on immigrant integration, aging populations, and urban futures.