As an Environmental Psychologist, Professor Manzo specializes in the study of the interrelationships between people and their physical surroundings. Her view of the environment includes not only natural and built settings, but also the socio-cultural and political milieu that shape the appearance, meanings and uses of space. Prof Manzo’s interests and areas of research address environment and behavior in urban space and focus on issues of place attachment, place identity, community participation and development as well as the politics of place. She has spent years conducting housing research and participating in advocacy efforts for affordable housing. As a co-founder of the Housing Environments Research Group at the City University of New York, she researched and advocated for tenants rights to affordable housing and researched grassroots organizing and building rehabilitation efforts among residents of landlord abandoned buildings. In Seattle, Prof Manzo is conducting research on the Seattle Housing Authority’s High Point community and evaluating King County Housing Authority’s redevelopment of Park Lake Homes in White Center. Her interests in diversity in urban environments is also at the basis of her research in Seattle’s Chinatown/International District which focuses on cultural identity and participation in the development of the new urban design master plan for the district as well as on the community dynamics unfolding in this design process. For Prof Manzo, teaching is a passion. She strives to make the educational process an exciting, interactive and participatory one focusing on real-world issues and problems. She is committed to the process of discovery and seeks to help students fully understand the impact of the designed environment on people's lives, and to appreciate the nature and nuances of the dynamics between people and places in all of their complexity.