Design with Nature Now, with Dr. Frederick Steiner

November 28, 2021

A celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ian McHarg’s book!

On this special rebroadcast, Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham talk to Dr. Frederick Steiner, Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. Dr. Steiner is at the vanguard of resiliency thinking and is also the author of Design with Nature Now, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ian McHarg’s seminal book, Design with Nature, which set forth a new vision for regional planning using natural systems back in the 1970's. McHarg's principles are more powerful than ever, especially along the coast, and Steiner is making sure we don't forget what we once knew on how to plan and design new communities that are less risky.  A great discussion.  Only on ASPN.

Show Transcription
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Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.