Dr. Abbott is interested in the interrelationships among cities and regions in North America.  His research covers a range of topics including urban history, urban revitalization policy, downtown development, and regional development in the United States.  He has written several books on the history of urban planning and also enjoys writing about the links between popular literature and historical development.  His recent works include How Cities Won the West: Four Centuries of Urban Change in Western North America and Frontiers Past and Present: Science Fiction and the American West.

Dr. Abbott has been teaching at Portland State since 1978 and actively serves the academic and non-academic communities.  Some of his contributions include serving as president of the Urban History Association and co-editor of the Pacific Historical Review and the Journal of the American Planning Association.  He regularly contributes his knowledge of urban history and local issues to community organizations, museums, and interest groups.

Dr. Abbott is currently working on several projects that center on United States’ urban history.  Using the same framework as his book, How Cities Won the West, Dr. Abbott is writing a popular history of cities in America.  At the same time, he is also working on the North American chapter of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Cities in History.

In addition to writing these national histories, Dr. Abbott is writing a brief history of the City of Portland to be published by Oregon State University Press.  The book will draw on new scholarship emphasizing civic capacity building and characterizations of Portland.  It is aimed at newcomers to the Portland area and those interested in Portland in general.

Dr. Abbott is also looking to investigate the development of new downtown public libraries in the information age.  He notes that many North American and European cities have built new, imposing public libraries designed by big name architects like Michael Graves, Moshe Safdie, and Rem Koolhaas.  These monumental projects come at a time when more people seem to look to the internet, rather than the library, for their information.  Dr. Abbott would like to explore why this building trend developed and how it contrasts against cities like Portland, which decided to invest in library updates rather than building new libraries.

Helping students find ways to structure information is one of the main goals of Dr. Abbott’s teaching philosophy.  This is accomplished in part through the application of theory to real world situations.  Students are encouraged to participate in community projects like downtown redevelopment initiatives or the student’s own community association.  Drawing on urban theories and community participation, Dr. Abbott helps students structure information about the urban experience into useable knowledge.