Randall Crane, Ph.D.

Randall Crane is a 4th-generation Californian and attended elementary school in 1960s Anaheim, returning to Orange County in 1990 to teach at UC Irvine. Director Crane is a professor emeritus at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, where he studied water governance, infrastructure planning, transportation, and the economic development challenges of cities. Through his career, he has advised on water access, environmental governance, and regional infrastructure planning. A widely respected expert on water governance, Director Crane’s research on cooperative governance, regional representation, and cost-sharing in large water systems has shaped both academic and professional practice worldwide.

Randall has served on the MWDOC Board of Directors since 2022, representing Division 5. As Chair of MWDOC’s Administration & Finance Committee, he has been a consistent voice for fiscal discipline, transparent governance, and data-driven decision-making. He has been involved in regional planning for water supplies, conservation and efficiency programs, and partnerships that promote environmental stewardship and workforce development in the water sector.

After being appointed by the MWDOC Board with a unanimous vote, he was officially sworn in as MWDOC’s newest representative to The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) in December 2025. Director Crane joins the Metropolitan Board at a pivotal time, as the region works to balance affordability, long-term water reliability, and evolving infrastructure needs.

Randall is former editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Planning Association, co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Urban Planning, and the author of research cited in peer-reviewed publications over 6,000 times. He was Fulbright Professor at El Colegio de México in Mexico City, Visiting Professor at Harvard University, and Senior Scholar at the World Resources Institute in Washington DC. He consulted for The World Bank on water problems in Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Yemen. He also worked on water issues in San Francisco, China, Mexico, and Thailand. At UC Irvine and UCLA, Crane taught courses in urban planning, including water planning, environmental governance and public finance. He holds a doctoral degree in applied economics from MIT. 

Raised in both southern and northern California, Randall graduated from Paradise High. A 1st-generation college graduate, his PhD is from MIT. He lives with his wife Marta, an architect, in Irvine where they raised their two now grown boys.