# Galen Cranz

galen cranz is a Professor of the Graduate School, Architecture at the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies the social and cultural bases of architectural and urban design. She is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, a kinesthetic educational system, who founded the new field "Body Conscious Design." She is the author of The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America (1982), which surveys the rise of the park system from 1850 to the present through four stages -- "the pleasure ground, the reform park, the recreation facility and the open space system," and the 1998 book The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design. == Educational philosophy == Paying close attention to social practices can inspire architectural innovation.