The Fence and Ambulance: The social and spatial contact zones of urban hospitals
Jon Wynn Associate Professor, Sociology, UMass Amherst
Jonathan Wynn studies urban culture. His two books The Tour Guide: Walking and Talking New York (2011, University of Chicago Press, Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries Series) and Music/City: American Festivals and Placemaking in Austin, Nashville, and Newport (2015, University of Chicago Press). In addition to academic articles he also published public sociology in The Guardian, CNN, and The Washington Post.
Laura Lawson is Professor of Landscape Architecture and Dean of Academic Programs in the School for Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz and an MLA and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research includes historical and contemporary community open space, with particular focus on urban agriculture and the changing roles of parks in low-income communities. She is author of City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005) and co-author of Design as Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity (Washington DC: Island Press, 2017), Greening Cities, Growing Communities: Urban Community Gardens in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009), as well as of numerous publications in academic journals, edited books, and popular media. She is currently working filmmaker Will Atwater on a collaborative project, Cultivating Justice, to develop a multi-media website that explores African American values and experiences in rural and urban agriculture. At Rutgers, Professor Lawson teaches courses focused on social and cultural issues in design and planning.
Town Ecology: For the Land of Towns and Villages
Richard T. T. Forman Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
Richard T. T. Forman is often considered a “father” of landscape ecology and also road ecology, helps spearhead urban ecology, and recently pioneered town ecology. His primary scholarly interest links science with spatial pattern to interweave nature and people on the land. Other research interests include changing land mosaics, conservation, and land-use planning. With a Haverford College B.S., University of Pennsylvania Ph.D., and two honorary doctoral degrees, he now teaches ecology in the Harvard Graduate School of Design and formerly also in Harvard College. He taught at the Escuela Agricola Panamericana, University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University, and received the Lindback Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching. He served as President or Vice-President of three professional societies, and has received honors/awards in France, Colombia, England, Italy, China, Czech Republic, Australia, and the USA. Internationally, he deciphers spatial patterns from cities to wilderness, and catalyzes the spread of ecological ideas and applications for society. Professor Forman has authored numerous articles; his books include Landscape Ecology (1986), the award-winning Land Mosaics (1995), Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning (1996), Road Ecology (2003), Mosaico territorial para la region metropolitana de Barcelona (2004), Urban Regions: Ecology and Planning Beyond the City (2008), award-finalist Urban Ecology: Science of Cities (2014), and Towns, Ecology, and the Land (2019).
Activating Landscape Sustainability Science: a framework for governing urban green infrastructure
Katherine Foo Assistant Professor, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
In response to predominantly local and private approaches to landscape change, I suggest in this talk a greater focus on the multiscalar influences on landscape design. Specifically, I explain my governance framework for Nassauer and Opdam’s “Design in Science” model. The objective of the framework is to create an approach for examining hierarchical constraints on landscape design in order to investigate linkages among urban greening initiatives, patterns of landscape change, and the broader societal values driving those changes. It aims to provide an integrative and actionable approach for landscape sustainability science. The framework is examined through an ethnographic study of public policy processes surrounding the urban tree initiatives in Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; and Baltimore, MD. These initiatives demonstrate the impact of political and economic decentralization on urban landscape patterns. Their collaborative governance approach incorporates diverse resources to implement programming at a fine-scale. The predominant tree giveaway program fragments the urban and regional forest. Spatial and temporal fragmentation undermines the long-term security of urban greening programs, and it suggests reconsideration of the role of state regimes in driving broad scale spatial planning.
Katherine Foo is an ecological designer and urban geographer who is passionate about design for urban ecology, civic empowerment, and ecological democracy. She possesses a longstanding commitment to community-engaged visual methods in landscape design and social and environmental justice in urban governance. Katherine has published in Landscape Ecology, Landscape and Urban Planning, Cities, and Geoforum, among other outlets. She received her PhD in Geography from Clark University, MLA and MS in Sustainable Systems from the University of MIchigan, and BA in Poverty Studies from Williams College.
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Defining Resiliency: envisioning an equitable future in light of climatechange
Deborah Helaine Morris is an urban plannerfocused at the nexus of climate change and social equity. Most recently, as the Executive Director of Resiliency Policy, Planning, and Acquisitions at the NewYork City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Morris created anew team, focused on the development of policy and programs to lead aggressiveclimate change adaption in affordable housing with a focus on flood riskmitigation. This work includes the development of flood resiliencystandards for new affordable housing in waterfront communities; long-termcommunity planning initiatives, including the creation and implementation ofthe Resilient Edgemere Community Plan; and the management of a $90-millionproperty buyout program. Deborah is currently a Loeb Fellow at the HarvardGraduate School of Design.
She received a Master’s in City Planning and Urban Design fromMassachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of the Arts from theUniversity of Michigan.
This lecture is co-sponsored with the Department of Architecture.
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Making Space: Optimistic City-making Strategies for Addressing Urban Homelessness
Brice Maryman Principal, MIG
Brice Maryman PLA, FASLA, LEED AP advocates for landscape architecture's vital role in confronting today's environmental and civic challenges. Growing up near Washington DC and watching protests on the National Mall, Brice was inspired by the public realm's capacity to reshape our society, an ethos and aspiration that he brings to all of his work. He was recently awarded the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Innovation and Leadership Fellowship where he studied the intersection of homelessness and public space. Through collaboration with clients, Brice studies and reveals hidden site histories to remake places that are authentically fitted to and reflective of their communities. His award-winning work has been featured in numerous publications, and Brice is a frequent public speaker and communicator.
Julie Steiner Professor of Law, Western New England University
Professor Steiner teaches Cannabis Law and Policy, Environmental and Land Use Law, Torts, and Introduction to Law.
Her scholarly work focuses on legal policy reform and enforcement theory. Professor Steiner’s current research focuses on the historical development of, and normative approaches to, cannabis law and policy. She has a particular interest in the use of social media to advance knowledge building. Her scholarship has appeared in numerous journals, including the William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, Santa Clara Law Review, Marquette Law Review, Environmental Law Reporter, ABA Energy Law Journal, and the New York Law Journal.
Professor Steiner is a frequent lecturer, and has been cited in the media for her expertise on cannabis law, including appearances on New England Public Radio, in WalletHub’s “Most Fun States in America” and in the Springfield Republican. Professor Steiner has also lectured and been quoted extensively about cannabis, environmental, and tort law.
A passionate educator, Professor Steiner has been recognized for teaching excellence. She was awarded the Catherine J. Jones Professor of Year Award in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Prior to joining the faculty of Western New England University School of Law, Professor Steiner was a member of the full-time faculty at St. John’s University School of Law where she received the honor of Professor of the Year (2009) and the Dean’s Teaching Award (2008).
Professor Steiner graduated as Edward F. Hennessey Distinguished Scholar and a Paul J. Liacos Scholar, cum laude, from Boston University School of Law. She was a Visiting Student of International and Comparative Law at Oxford University, St. Catherine’s College (Hilary Term, 1994). Upon graduation, she clerked for the Honorable Peter W. Kilborn of the Massachusetts Land Court. She received her B.A., summa cum laude, in English and Political Science with Honors, from Syracuse University.
Prior to joining the legal academy, Steiner was a litigator with the New York firms of K&L Gates, LLP, and Dewey Ballantine, LLP, where she focused on environmental law and land use matters. Her pro bono practice included service as a Voluntary Appellate Defender in tandem with the New York Office of the Appellate Defender.
Emily McCoy Assistant Professor of Practice in Landscape Architecture, NC State University; Landscape Architect, Design Workshop
Emily McCoy, PLA, ASLA, SITES AP is a landscape architect and researcher at Design Workshop. She recently moved to DesignWorkshop after serving as the Director of Integrative Research and Principal at Andropogon Associates for 11 years.
Emily’s passions are rooted in both design and understanding of the natural world, which is reflected in her past educational and professional experiences in design, ecology, and horticulture. As an associate professor of practice at NC State University, Emily strives to contribute to the knowledge base of landscape architecture by exploring the interplay between professional practice and scholarly research. She has worked on such notable projects as the US Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC; Shield Ranch, Austin, TX; Georgia Tech Living Building, Atlanta, GA; and the Thaden School, Bentonville, AR
Emily holds a Master of Landscape Architecture with a concentration in natural resource management and GIS from North Carolina State University; a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Environmental Biology from Appalachian State University; and has past professional experience as a horticulturist and research assistant in both the design and biology fields. Emily also serves on the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Education Committee, the Advisory Council for the Landscape Architecture Department at NC State University, the Advisory Board of Penn State’s Stuckeman School, and is an Awesome Raleigh trustee.
