Brian Deal

Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002

Dr. Deal is an Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois; the Director of Research at the Robert Allerton Park and Natural Area; the Director of the LEAM Modeling Systems Laboratory; and the Director of the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center on the UIUC campus.

Dr. Deal’s background is a unique mixture of professional activity and academic achievement that started with an undergraduate design degree in architecture in the early 1980s. This culminated in a professional architectural license and 11 years of professional practice, eventually becoming Partner and Principal Architect in a firm focused on design/build and development projects in the Chicago area. Environmental activism and an interest in ideas of sustainability and environmental ethics brought him to the University of Illinois via the US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), where he served as a senior researcher for over 9 years. Activities at CERL focused on research on sustainable design and development approaches utilizing spatial simulation modeling techniques to discern the environmental impacts of urban and military land uses.

In his current capacity, Dr Deal teaches multi-disciplinary sustainable design studio/workshops and seminar courses, on-line courses that contribute toward a certification program in sustainable design, and professional development courses on sustainability. He also serves on several dissertation and thesis committees. His scholarship and research activities at UIUC have evolved in two substantive areas: facility sustainability in the form of Smart Energy and the development of programs that work toward the infusion of renewable energy technologies in the State of Illinois, and landscape sustainability in the research, development, and application of LEAM, an innovative approach to analyzing the potential environmental implications of regional land use decisions through dynamic spatial simulation modeling.

LEAM was initially developed though a National Science Foundation grant to help integrate dynamic systems modeling and raster-based GIS mapping tools to create spatially dynamic simulations that describe the evolving transformations inherent in urban systems, as well as their social, economic and environmental implications. The ideas are currently being applied and tested in scenario-based regional planning and design exercises in Illinois, Missouri, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina. The LEAM program is engaging the Northern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) in the development of a Chicago regional forecasting tool and has become an integral part of regional planning in the Metro St Louis region. Other LEAM projects include Legacy Planning applications, discerning the implications of land use change on water quality, air emissions, habitat fragmentation, fiscal operations and DoD lands. The LEAMgroup is a private consulting firm, licensed by the University Illinois to satisfy the growing demand for specific LEAM applications.

Dr Deal is a registered architect, has published journal articles, conference papers, book chapters and technical reports on a wide range of environmental and planning issues; is a past recipient of the AIA Henry Adams Medal for Scholastic and Professional Achievement; is an award winning design architect; is a member of the LEEDTM 3.0 Technical Advisory Committee; and has been a key-note speaker at conferences and forums worldwide (e.g. Sustainable Building 2000 Conference in Maastricht, NL; the National Governors Association Smart Growth Forum, and the USGS Workshop on Land Use Modeling).

Contact Information
Room 228 Temple Buell Hall
611 Taft Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217.333.1911
Fax: 217.244.1717
E-mail: deal@illinois.edu

Current Research Areas

In Deal’s recently taught design studio, students worked on a “green” visitors’ center for the University’s Robert Allerton Park in Monticello. The program is based on actual work he is doing at Allerton as its Director of Research. Students are worked in teams to develop design solutions and are focused on research in sustainable construction materials, building systems, and design strategies.

Another project Deal is leading at the BRC is Land Use Evolution and Impact Assessment Model (LEAM) Laboratory which studies the ways that cities grow and the factors that stimulate their growth. He is also part of the technical review committee of the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program; recently he has been working with 10 other universities to develop a system to analyze how well university buildings perform in terms of energy efficiency.

Deal is currently involved in a few construction projects seeking LEED certification. As a member of the Campus Sustainability Committee, he is overseeing the new College of Business building which is being designed by Cesar Pelli and Associates, with the goal of obtaining a LEED platinum rating. (Currently in design development.) He also is working with fellow BRC researcher Don Fournier to advise Faith United Methodist Church in Champaign about building a new silver-rated facility.

Selected Publications

Deal, Brian and D. Fournier, Ecological Urban Dynamics and Spatial Modeling, in the proceedings of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy Summer Study on Efficiency and Sustainability,  Monterey, CA; 2000

Deal, Brian, C. Farrello, M. Lancaster, T. Kompare, and B. Hannon, A Dynamic Model of the Spatial Spread of an Infectious Disease, Environmental Modeling and Assessment, 5, pp. 47-62; 2000

Deal, Brian, Ecological Urban Dynamics:  the Convergence Spatial Modeling and Sustainability, The Journal of Building Research and Information, Vol. 29, No. 5; Sept-Oct. 2001

Deal, Brian, W. Goran, and D. Timlin, A Spatial Modeling Approach to Address Urban Growth Threat to Military Training, Joint Forces Quarterly; 2001

Deal, Brian, D. Fournier, and D. Timlin; An Assessment of Encroachment Mitigation Techniques for Army Lands, Engineering Research and Development Center [CERL] (TR submitted)

Deal, Brian, The Military Land use Evolution and impact Assessment Model (LEAM), Engineer Research and Development Center [CERL], Champaign, IL, Technical Note TN-01-2

Deal, Brian, M. Diane, M. Timlin, and William D. Goran, Urban Encroachment of Military Lands:  Military Installations at Risk, Engineer Research and Development Center [CERL], ERDC/CERL TR-02-3

Deal, Brian and D. Fournier, Building Codes, Energy, and the Environment:  How Model Building Codes Affect Sustainability, Engineering Research and Development Center; 2000, TR 00/03

Deal, Brian, W. Rose and S. Riley, The Commissioning of Humidified Buildings, Construction Engineering Research Laboratories; 1998, TR 98/03

Presentations and Invited Lectures

Ecological Urban Dynamics keynote speaker at Sustainable Building 2000, Maastricht, NL;  2000

Architecture and Sustainable Design, featured speaker - American Licensed Architects Forum; 2001

The Land use Evolution and impact Assessment Model (LEAM), invited speaker at The USEPA Region V Watershed Modeling Workshop; 2002

The Land use Evolution and impact Assessment Model (LEAM), featured speaker at The State of Illinois Growth Task Force Committee Meeting; 2002

Ecological Sustainability and the Urban Dynamics:  A Disaggregated Modeling Approach to Sustainable Design with V. George; presented at Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management, Honolulu, HA; July 2001

Urban Dynamics and Sustainability:  an Ecological Approach presented at the American Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference; November 2001

Evolving Urban Dynamics:  the Landuse Evolution and Impact Assessment Model presented at: Planning Matters, a workshop of the Illinois Planning and Zoning Institute; March 2002

The Military Land use Evolution and impact Assessment Model presented at the Federal Planning Division of the American Planning Association Conference, Chicago, IL; April 2002

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