Event Recap
A talk with author Gregory Heller who spoke about his book, Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia (Penn Press, 2013), the first biography of one of urban planning’s most charismatic figures. Heller traces the trajectory of Bacon’s two-decade tenure as director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, which coincided with a transformational period in American planning history, and reveals the change-making moves that had a profound impact on Philadelphia’s future as well as the controversies in a career-long effort to transform planning ideas into reality. Introductory remarks were given by Eugenie L. Birch, Co-Director of Penn IUR.