"Penn's Sylvania" Book Launch

In celebration of the publication of Penn’s Sylvania: The Campus as Landscape, The McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology welcomes the book's co-editors and two of its contributors for an exclusive preview. Speakers include Weitzman Dean and Paley Professor Fritz Steiner; Ignacio Bunster-Ossa; Catherine Seavitt, the Meyerson Professor of Urbanism and chair of landscape architecture; and Susan Weiler.

Inspired by William Penn’s vision of Philadelphia as a “greene country towne,” Penn’s Sylvania traces the evolution of one of the nation’s most distinctive urban campuses. Available in September from the University of Pennsylvania Press, the book reflects on how landscapes shape learning and human experience. Through essays, photography, and interdisciplinary perspectives, it portrays the Penn campus not simply as a backdrop for education, but as a carefully shaped environment that influences how people think, interact, and grow.

The program will be followed by a reception.

Speakers

Ignacio F. Bunster-Ossa is a landscape architect and vice president for landscape urbanism and resiliency at the Collaborative. He was a partner at principal of Wallace Roberts and Todd for over two decades. He is author of Limbs, Leaves and Hope: A Portrait of Philadelphia’s Urban Forest in Times of a Pandemic. He lives in the Spruce Hill neighborhood of West Philadelphia near the University of Pennsylvania campus.

Catherine Seavitt is the Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor of Urbanism and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture. She is also faculty co-director of the McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology and creative director of LA+ journal. Her research examines the intersection of political power, environmental activism, and public health, particularly as seen through the design of equitable public space and policy.

Fritz Steiner is dean and Paley Professor of the Weitzman School of Design. He founded the McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology with Richard Weller. Steiner co-chairs Penn’s Design Review Committee. A long-time planning and landscape architecture educator, he is the author or editor of 22 books. He helped to create the SITES Rating System, the ecosystem-services based approach used for designing sustainable and resilient landscapes. Steiner lives adjacent to the Penn campus in the Spruce Hill neighborhood of West Philadelphia. He is a three-time graduate of Penn.

Susan Weiler has been a partner at the preeminent landscape architecture firm OLIN for over 30 years and is dedicated to the appreciation and integration of public art and urban design. She received her Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin and her Master of Landscape Architecture from Penn. With her commitment to public art in Philadelphia, Weiler has made impactful contributions, including a recent Benjamin Franklin Parkway Master Plan, the Rodin Museum Garden, the Anne d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden, “125 Years” with artist Jenny Holzer, “Lines in Four Directions in Flowers” by Sol LeWitt, and Dilworth Park (including Janet Echelman’s “Pulse” installation). Weiler is the primary author of the book Green Roof Systems: A Guide for the Planning, Design and Construction of Landscapes over Structure, which has become a primary resource on the topic of green roof design for landscape architects, architects, and engineers.
 

The McHarg Center

The McHarg Center empowers landscape architects and planners to meet current and future challenges to life on Earth. Through transdisciplinary research and public dialogue with scholars, students, communities, and practitioners, the Center provides a global platform for ecological thinking and innovative design across multiple scales of the landscape.

If you require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, please email news@design.upenn.edu. Please note, we require at least five (5) business days’ notice.