Harley Etienne teaches in the areas of urban community development, inner-city revitalization, neighborhood change, urban poverty and qualitative research issues in planning.

Harley’s research focuses primarily on the intersection of social institutions and their relationship to processes of urban neighborhood change and social equity. He is keenly interested in the role that colleges and universities play in contributing to neighborhood-level change and regional economic development. His dissertation entitled, “The Role of Universities in Urban Neighborhood Change: A Case Study of University City, West Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania,” was a mixed method study of the areas immediately adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania campus that have experienced a dramatic transformation since the early 1990s. Prior to Cornell, Harley worked in Philadelphia in the public policy and economic development sectors for Greater Philadelphia First (now merged with the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce) and the Pennsylvania Economy League.