We Are Part of a Global Ecosystem

The coronavirus pandemic is a reminder that we all are part of, not separate from, one interconnected, global ecosystem. This understanding—that humans are part of nature—is the foundation on which Ian McHarg’s theory and practice of regional ecological planning is based. McHarg (1920 - 2001), professor and chair of landscape and regional planning at Penn, is the father of modern landscape design and regional planning. In his seminal book Design With Nature, he described the philosophy that human interventions in the physical world should be based on a thorough understanding of that world and that these interventions must be designed to work with, not against, nature.

Further, he developed a method of putting this philosophy into practice, which he described as suitability analysis: layering geographical data in order to determine the most appropriate location for human activity. Not only did McHarg’s theory and practice shape twentieth-century landscape architecture and regional planning, but also it launched the revolution in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology that informs the maps with which the spread of coronavirus is now tracked.

Design With Nature was originally published in 1969. To mark the 50th anniversary of its publication, the McHarg Center at Penn hosted an international conference and exhibits entitled “Design With Nature Now” and published, in conjunction with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Penn’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design, a book of the same name, which I co-edited with Richard Weller, Karen M’Closkey, and Billy Fleming. We undertook these projects knowing that McHarg’s philosophy and methodology would inform efforts to address climate change, loss of biodiversity, and growing urbanization; we now see that his wisdom is more evident and useful than ever.

Frederick (Fritz) Steiner is Dean and Paley Professor, Stuart Weitzman School of Design; Co-Executive Director, Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology; and a Penn IUR Faculty Fellow.

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