Designing Places for People and the Environment: Lessons from 55 years as an Urban Planner and Shaping the Global Landscape Architectural Practice of the SWA Group

Part autobiography, part firm history and part a look at the future of urban design, Designing Places for People and the Environment addresses lessons learned from fifty-five years of experience in urban design and planning from a personal perspective, following the author’s formative education and work as an architect, Naval civil engineer and city planner before transitioning into landscape architecture where he grew into a leadership role as the first president of the SWA Group and shaped the firm as an employee-owned group practice that, over four decades, has become a “world leader in landscape architecture, planning and urban design”. More than just a monograph, the book relates important developments in the firm and profession to major world events of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, using thirty-five case studies of his major work and portfolios of the firm's iconic work over its entire history to date, and a “best practices” section detailing how the firm has developed business and professional practices that allow it to focus on its people and work: planning, designing and building livable and environmentally sustainable cities and communities where people can live in dignity, health and happiness.