About Magda Rich
Dr. Magda Rich is a Collegiate Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. Her research interests focus on (1) care farming and the therapeutic use of natural elements in urban areas and (2) the development and implementation of participatory research methods for community engagement. She is one of the co-developers of the Spatial Group Model Building (SGMB) technique, a participatory process that integrates spatial data collection into the design of stakeholder-mediated systems models. SGMB has been applied in a number of rural planning settings, including projects in Zambia, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Senegal, and Timor-Leste.
Before joining Virginia Tech, Dr. Rich taught graduate courses on urban agriculture and participatory decision making in the Master of International Agriculture Program at Oklahoma State University. She also gained professional experience as a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Lincoln University in New Zealand, and as director of a small consultancy company based in Europe. In these positions, she worked on several multidisciplinary projects in diverse international settings, including India, New Zealand, Zambia, and Tanzania, and gained further practical experience through living in multiple countries including New Zealand, Vietnam, and Senegal.
Dr. Rich received her Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom and her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Architecture and Urbanism from the Czech Technical University (CTU).
At Virginia Tech, Dr Rich teaches courses on collaborative community involvement, policymaking, and planning.
Areas of Expertise
Participatory Decision Making, Public Engagement, Food Systems, Urban Agriculture and Care FarmingSelected Publications
Rich, K. M., Rich, M., & Dizyee, K. (2018). Participatory systems approaches for urban and peri-urban agriculture planning: The role of system dynamics and spatial group model building. Agricultural Systems, 160, 110-123.
Rich, K. M., Rich, M., & Hamza, K. (2015). From response to resilience: The role of system dynamics approaches in analysing and developing value chains from urban and peri-urban agriculture.
Viljoen, A., Rich, M., & Rich, K. (2015, October). The ‘Healing City’: Social and therapeutic horticulture as a new dimension of urban agriculture?. In Localizing urban food strategies. Farming cities and performing rurality: 7th International Aesop Sustainable Food Planning Conference Proceedings (pp. 22-35). Politecnico di Torino.
Recent Courses Taught
UAP 5084: Collaborative Planning & Community Involvement
SPIA 2554: Collaborative Policy and Planning
Assistant Professor