Clare Cooper Marcus first attended the University of London where she graduated in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in Cultural and Historical Geography. Soon after in 1958, Marcus received a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in Urban Geography. Marcus finished her education with master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966 in City and Regional Planning. Her master’s thesis at Berkeley was titled, Some Social Implications of House and Site Plan Design at Easter Hill Village: A Case Study, and outlined her, soon to be, lifelong interest in relations among physical environments and social behaviors.

In 1969, Clare Cooper Marcus began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley in the department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and continued to teach there until 1994 when she retired from teaching full-time under the title of Professor Emerita. Her teaching emphasized the social implications of open space design; user needs in high-density housing; behavior in public open spaces; and the needs of children in the natural and built environment. Often calling herself an “ Environment-Behavior Researcher,” Marcus pioneered her own field concerning the psychological and sociological aspects of architecture, landscape, and urban design.

As a faculty member and professor, Marcus taught both undergraduate and graduate courses with her most popular and longest running class being “Social and Psychological Factors in Open Space Design.” She continued research throughout her time at the University of California, Berkeley at sites throughout the Bay Area such as St. Francis Square (San Francisco, CA), Geneva Towers (San Francisco, CA), Easter Hill (Richmond, CA), and Eichler Towers (San Francisco, CA). Marcus conducts her research through detailed observations of people’s behaviors and through interviews of residents. Her extensive research has prompted books such as House as a Symbol of the Self (1974) and Housing As If People Mattered: Site Design Guidelines for Medium-Density Family Housing (1986), as well as many other publications.

Participating in independent consulting work throughout her career, Marcus has worked with a variety of clients throughout the United States and the world in countries such as, Scandinavia, Netherlands, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and China. Marcus’ consulting work specializes in user-needs in design and creating healing and comfortable environments. Marcus has received numerous awards throughout her career such as the Guggenheim Fellowship Award in 1989 to support her research on co-housing in Europe and the US and CELA Outstanding Educator Award in 1997.

Biographical Summary, Box 1 Folder 1, Clare Cooper Marcus Papers, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Conarroe, Joel, Letter from Joel Conarroe to Clare Cooper Marcus, April 5, 1989, Clare Cooper Marcus Papers, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Sarkissian, Wendy. Letter from Wendy Sarkissian to Willo P. White, September 5, 1983, Clare Cooper Marcus Papers, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.