Allison Arieff is an editor, writer and urbanist. She was previously Editorial Director of Print for MIT Technology Review and Editorial Director of the Bay Area-based urban planning and policy think tank, SPUR. From 2007-2020, she was contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. Prior to that, Allison was Editor-in-Chief (and founding Senior Editor) of the modern design and architecture magazine, Dwell, which won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2005 under her tenure. She has written about cities, design, and architecture for numerous publications including The MIT Technology Review, Wired, Politico, A+U, Metropolis, the San Francisco Chronicle, and City Lab. She was the recipient of the AIGA Steven Heller Award for Cultural Commentary in 2018.
Allison began her editorial career in book publishing with stints at Random House, Oxford University Press, and Chronicle Books. She has edited numerous titles on design and culture including Airstream: A History of the Land Yacht. She is author of several books including Prefab and Trailer Travel: A Visual History of Mobile America and has contributed to numerous others.
She has lectured on architecture and design around the world at venues including the Venice Architectural Biennial, the Architectural League of New York, the Commonwealth Club of California, and has taught at universities including Stanford and University of California, Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco.