David Schalliol

David Schalliol is an associate professor of sociology at St. Olaf College who is interested in the relationship between community, social structure, and place. His work has been supported by institutions including the Graham Foundation, the Driehaus Foundation, and the European Union and been featured in publications including the Journal of Urban History, MAS Context, and The New York Times. He is the author of Isolated Building Studies (UTAKATADO) and co-author of The City Creative: The Rise of Urban Placemaking in Contemporary America (The University of Chicago Press). David exhibits widely, including in the 2015 and 2017 Chicago Architectural Biennial, the Centre Régional de la Photographie Hauts-de-France, and at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. He additionally contributes to documentary films, including Almost There and Highrise: Out My Window, an interactive documentary that won an International Digital Emmy for Non-Fiction. His directorial debut, The Area, premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and has been broadcast as part of America ReFramed.

David is also a contributing editor to the architecture and design organization MAS Context. He was an editor of Gapers Block for more than a decade, where he worked with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust to increase journalistic coverage of underserved communities.

David earned his MA and PhD in the Department of Sociology at The University of Chicago and his BA from Kenyon College.