Welcome 

Here you'll find an overview of my work in landscape architecture and urban planning. 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 the negative impacts of climate change and globalization. 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.

I arrived at Penn State University in 1993 after +8 years of consulting in Ontario. Over the last 3 decades I mostly taught upper-level design studios and courses on site ecology and plants in the landscape. From 2008 to 2023 my award-winning Pittsburgh Studio introduced advanced students to designing in and with underserved communities. PDFs of most of my publications are here.

I retired from Penn State in July, but continue my research agenda part-time. I'm also open to collaborations and teaching stints.

on cities

Never underestimate the power of a city to regenerate. . .

Streets and their sidewalks—the main public places of a city—are its most vital organs. . .Lowly, unpurposeful and random as they may appear, sidewalk contacts are the small change from which a city's wealth of public life may grow.

J. Jacobs, 1961

on climate change

The essential question of the Anthropocene is whether the most powerful societies will deliver on their shared aspirations for a better future for all people and the planet. And that means taking responsibility.

E. Ellis, 2023

on biodiversity and healthy ecosystems

I can't imagine anything more important than air, water, soil, energy and biodiversity. These are the things that keep us alive.

D. Suzuki, 2008

on diversity and our mutual humanity 

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. 

M. L. King, Jr., 1963

A garden's beauty never lies in one flower. 

M. Dhliwayo, 2021

on democratic design

The questions that designers need to ask are implicitly ethical ... Design is a basic human activity to which everyone should have access. 

K. Krippendorff, 2007