About
Professor, program director, and applied urban technology researcher.
William (Billy) Riggs is a tenured full professor at the University of San Francisco working across urban planning and design, public administration, engineering, and entrepreneurship — and a researcher whose work is used by cities, agencies, and operators.
Biography
Design training, campus capital projects, and a research career about streets.
Riggs holds a PhD in City & Regional Planning from UC Berkeley (2011), a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Louisville (2003), and a BA in Art & Architecture History from Ball State University (2001), with additional study in politics and history at Oxford.
Before returning to the faculty, he was Principal Planner at UC Berkeley (2008–2014), reporting to the Vice Chancellor and Campus Architect and working with the Design Review Committee and the Dean of the College of Environmental Design. Projects included the Haas expansion, the Memorial Stadium renovation, Girton Hall, and the Spieker complex — work managed within a $2.2B building portfolio, alongside roughly $3M in grants secured. He was previously a Senior Planner at Arup, and an Assistant Professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (2012–2017).
At USF he is Professor and Program Director/Chair (2023–), directing the MPA program and carrying responsibility for NASPAA accreditation, with contributions to AACSB, ABET, and WASC processes. He holds professor appointments in engineering (2020–) and the School of Management (2017–), and has been a Research Associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute since 2012.
He directs the Autonomous Vehicles & the City Initiative and organizes the annual AV&City conference and the Innovate for Good conference. He is Principal and Director of Research at INTNCITY, and author of End of the Road (Bristol University Press, 2022) and Disruptive Transport (Routledge, 2019).
Professor · Program Director · Researcher
Education
PhD, City & Regional Planning
University of California, Berkeley — 2011
Master of Urban Planning
University of Louisville — 2003
BA, Art & Architecture History
Ball State University — 2001
Study in politics & history
University of Oxford
Appointments
Current and prior roles
Professor & Program Director/Chair
University of San Francisco
Director of the MPA program and responsible for NASPAA accreditation, with contributions to AACSB, ABET, and WASC review.
Professor
USF College of Arts & Sciences / Engineering
Tenured full professor teaching and advising across engineering and urban systems.
Professor
USF School of Management
Faculty in management, entrepreneurship and innovation, bridging business and public-sector practice.
Research Associate
Mineta Transportation Institute
Funded research on automated mobility, accessibility policy, and transportation behavior.
Principal & Director of Research
INTNCITY
Applied research and advisory practice for cities, agencies, and industry partners.
Partner
Just Business Social Impact Fund / Management
Impact investment and venture management.
Assistant Professor
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
City and regional planning faculty; research on street design and travel behavior.
Principal Planner
UC Berkeley
Reporting to the Vice Chancellor and Campus Architect; worked with the Design Review Committee and the Dean of CED on Haas expansion, Memorial Stadium renovation, Girton Hall, and the Spieker complex, managing projects within a $2.2B portfolio and securing roughly $3M in grants.
Senior Planner
Arup
Transport and urban planning consulting practice.
Community Planner & Engineering Technician
United States Coast Guard
Community planning and engineering support for Coast Guard facilities and the surrounding communities.
Approach
Institutions are designed objects
A curriculum, a research center, a procurement process, and a street all have the same property: someone decided how they would work, and that decision can be made better.
That is why the institutional work matters — accreditation self-studies, budget models, governance, hiring plans. Those are the mechanisms through which ambition becomes capability, and they are the same reason research here is judged partly by whether a city staffer can act on it Monday morning.
Concise bio
For programs and introductions
William (Billy) Riggs, PhD, is a Professor and Program Director at the University of San Francisco, where he directs the MPA program and holds appointments in engineering and the School of Management. He directs the Autonomous Vehicles & the City Initiative, is a Research Associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute, and previously served as Principal Planner at UC Berkeley. He is the author of End of the Road (Bristol University Press) and Disruptive Transport (Routledge), and a contributor to a forthcoming Cambridge University Press volume on net-zero and resilient urban infrastructure.
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