Thomas D. Wilson

Thomas Wilson is a planner, author, and independent scholar who resides near Nashville, Tennessee. His most recent book is "Exceptional Places," which profiles iconic and extraordinary historic districts throughout the United States. A previous book explores the plan's origin for the Province of Carolina, developed by Anthony Ashley Cooper and the philosopher John Locke. Titled The Ashley Cooper Plan, it was published by University of North Carolina Press in 2015. University of Virginia Press published an earlier book, The Oglethorpe Plan, in September 2012. Wilson has served as Director of Comprehensive Planning for the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission in Savannah, Georgia; Planning Director for Beaufort County, South Carolina; Research Associate with Florida International University in Miami; Assistant Planning Director for the City of Key West; and Research Associate with the Urban Institute. Plans adopted under Wilson’s leadership have received awards in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Previously, he served in the Peace Corps in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Wilson earned a Master of Science in Geography at The Pennsylvania State University in 1976, with an emphasis in research methods and regional planning; he holds a Bachelor of Arts from San Diego State University.