Welcome 

Here you'll find an overview of my work in landscape architecture and urbanism. I focus on contextual and ecology-informed design, inclusive green places in cities, and novel and restored ecosystems. I've collaborated with action research colleagues on resilience-building projects in south Asia, Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa—places that struggle with climate change and socio-economic inequity. I'm currently researching convivial greenstreets in urban cores and the state of professional landscape planting practices in the northeast US, with a focus on climate change and biodiversity. PDFs of most of my publications are here.

During my +8 years of consulting in Ontario I was fortunate to have some great mentors and plenty of talented role models from multiple professions: landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, applied ecology and botany, archaeology, art, architecture, regional economics, soil science, and engineering (water resources / hydrology, civil, structural, lighting, geotechnical, coastal). It wasn't until I shifted to campus that I realized multi- and interdisciplinarity weren't unreservedly accepted as a good ways to tackle complex problems. As a practitioner-academic, I periodically took on project-based work to stay nimble in my field.

Since arriving at Penn State University in 1993, I've mostly taught advanced studio courses at multiple scales in both urban and regional contexts, as well as technical courses focusing on planted ecosystems, green urbanism, and ecological applications in the landscape. A key design principle—championed by my mentor Michael Hough—was the remarkable persistence of natural process in cities and built landscapes. 

Through three decades, I've led or co-led over 40 public scholarship courses that challenged students with messy and exhilarating community-based projects. 

Most notably, from 1996–1999 and 2008–2023, my Pittsburgh Studio introduced upper-year students to designing in and with underserved post-industrial neighborhoods. Free of the conventional client-consultant model, and through the Penn State Center–Pittsburgh, our hosts invited us in as partners. This award-winning engaged studio was catalytic. It nurtured reciprocal learning, collaboration, and co-authorship that prompted community advocacy.

I retired from Penn State in 2024 but remain active in the discipline. Feel free to contact me.