One of America's leading commentators on urban planning and economic development, William Fulton currently serves as Mayor of Ventura, California. Mr. Fulton is the author of several well-known books, including THE RELUCTANT METROPOLIS: THE POLITICS OF URBAN GROWTH IN LOS ANGELES, which was a Los Angeles Times best-seller; GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA PLANNING, the standard textbook on urban planning in California; and THE REGIONAL CITY: PLANNING FOR THE END OF SPRAWL, co-authored with Peter Calthorpe. He was the founding editor and publisher of the periodical California Planning & Development Report (www.cp-dr.com). In his professional life, Mr. Fulton is a Principal with Design, Community & Environment (www.dceplanning.com), a California-based urban planning firm, and a Senior Fellow at the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. A native of Upstate New York, Mr. Fulton served as the Chair of the Planning Commission in the City of West Hollywood, California, in the 1980s. He was elected to the Ventura City Council in 2003 and became Mayor in 2009. In recent years, Ventura has gained a reputation as one of the most innovative cities in California. Among other things, Ventura has adopted an all-infill general plan, invested in a high-tech venture capital fund to attract business startups to the city, and established a benchmarking system to track the city's progress against goals.