[7] Fulton is best known as a commentator and expert on urban planning in California,[8] writing hundreds of articles on the topic, including more than 40 Sunday Opinion pieces in the Los Angeles Times between 1982 and 2009.
[9] Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, calling it "a surprisingly lively case study of the battles and alliances of politics, business and people that formed – or deformed – a great American city.
"[10] Almost 15 years later, Christopher Hawthorne, the architecture critic of the Los Angeles Times, writing in the newspaper's "Culture Monster" blog, called The Reluctant Metropolis "highly relevant" and said Fulton is "one of the most level-headed analysts of the built environment to emerge in Southern California in at least two generations.
He is a longtime contributor on economic development issues to Governing Magazine; many of his columns dealt with the industrial decline of his native Upstate New York.
In 2008, Solimar was merged into the Berkeley-based planning consulting firm Design, Community & Environment, where Fulton became a Principal and Shareholder.
In 2003, following his involvement in a campaign to defeat a ballot initiative that would have permitted a large hillside development project, he ran for the city council in Ventura.
[24] In early 2009, Fulton was said to be considering running in 2010 to represent California's 35th State Assembly district, a seat being vacated by the term-limited Pedro Nava.
[29] The most prominent company to emerge from the incubator was The Trade Desk, one of the leading ad tech firms in the nation, which has remained a fixture in downtown Ventura.
[35] In early 2011, Fulton stepped into California's heated debate over the future of redevelopment when he was the only mayor in the state who came out in favor of Gov.
"[36] Shortly before leaving office, Fulton announced that he would relocate to Washington, D.C., to become Vice President of Smart Growth America, a nationwide advocacy group.
[37] He said he was making the move to work on a national level, to be closer to his family, and to live in an urban environment that did not require him to drive as much given his visual impairment.
However, he said he would continue to be affiliated with The Planning Center | DC&E and the USC Price School and would return to Los Angeles and Ventura frequently.
[39] In June 2013, then-San Diego Mayor Bob Filner made the surprising announcement that Fulton had agreed to return to California to serve as the city's planning director.
Local observers hailed Filner's appointment of Fulton as an inspired choice to restore San Diego's former eminence in the field of urban planning.
However, new Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who was elected in February 2014 to fill out the remainder of Filner's term, created a separate Economic Development Department and shut down the Civic Innovation Lab.
Faulconer had also opposed the Fulton-endorsed Barrio Logan Community Plan Update, which passed the City Council but was subsequently overturned by voters in an industry-led citywide referendum.
[47] In August 2014 Fulton was named the Director of Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research in Houston, TX, until his contract was not renewed in 2021 (see below).
[57] In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and protests following the murder of George Floyd, Fulton was appointed by Mayor Sylvester Turner to Houston's Task Force on Police Reform.
In 2021, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria appointed Fulton chair of his Middle Income Housing Working Group.
[62] While at the Kinder Institute, Fulton published a book, Talk City, a collection of blogs from his time as mayor and Councilmember in Ventura.
[63] In December 2021, Fulton announced he would step down as Director of the Kinder Institute in June 2022 and would be succeeded by Ruth Lopez Turley, a renowned education researcher.
[65] Among other projects at PFM, Fulton worked on a study finding that New Mexico is too reliant on oil and gas revenue and needed to diversify its economy.