Gilles Duranton is professor of real estate and holds the Dean’s Chair in Real Estate. He joined Wharton in 2012 after holding academic positions at the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics. A graduate from HEC Paris and Sorbonne University, he obtained his PhD in economics from the London School of Economics and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.
His current work focuses land use and urban growth in emerging cities, the measurement of urban transportation and congestion, land development, and the geography of innovation and technology. He is also interested in the evaluation of the effects of infrastructure and place-based policies.
He serves as a co-editor for the Journal of Urban Economics and sits on the editorial board of several other academic journals. He is a fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research and of the Center for Economic Policy Research. He regularly works as consultant on regional and urban policy for national governments and international organizations. He was also the 2011 president of the North American Regional Science Association and the 2016–2017 president of the Urban Economics Association. He is currently the chair of the Wharton Real Estate Department.
