Frederick R. "Fritz" Steiner is an American ecologist who currently serves as the Dean and Paley Professor for the
University of Pennsylvania School of Design
The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design is the design school of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. It offers degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, historic preservation ...
, having succeeded
Marilyn Jordan Taylor in 2016. He is a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome.
The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
History
In 1893, a group of American architects, ...
. He teaches courses in the areas of landscape analysis, landscape architecture theory, and environmental impact assessment. His specialization is in ecological planning, historic preservation, environmental design, green building, and regional planning.
Education
Steiner earned his
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree in
graphic design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
from the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
in 1972, followed by a Master of Community Planning degree, also from Cincinnati, in 1975. In 1977, he earned his Master of Regional Planning from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, and in 1986 he earned both his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in
City and Regional Planning from Penn. At the time he was a student in the Penn Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, it was chaired by Ian McHarg. As a Teaching Fellow at Penn in 1983, Steiner coordinated the LARP 501 studio with McHarg.
Career
Formerly, he was Director of the School of Planning and Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and Environmental Design at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
and previously taught at
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...
, the University of Colorado-Denver, and the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
. He was also awarded an honorary M.Phil. in Human Ecology from the
College of the Atlantic
College of the Atlantic (COA) is a private liberal arts college in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, United States. Founded in 1969, it awards bachelors and masters (M.Phil.) degrees solely in the field of human ecology, an interdiscipli ...
. He has also served as a city planning commissioner and has worked with community groups, as well as national environmental and conservation organizations. He has been a visiting professor at
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...
in
Beijing, China
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Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, and was a Fulbright-Hays research scholar at
Wageningen University
Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...
in The
Netherlands
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.
He is the former dean of the
School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, having stepped down from the position of Dean in 2016 to lead the
University of Pennsylvania School of Design
The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design is the design school of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. It offers degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, historic preservation ...
. Following the announcement of his new position in February 2016, Steiner stated his decision to leave UT Austin had been influenced by Texas Government Code Section 411.2031,
which entitles licensed individuals to carry concealed handguns onto the campus of an institution of higher education--dubbed
Campus Carry" The Texas law went into effect on August 1, 2016.
In 2019, Steiner worked with Richard Weller, Karen M’Closkey, Billy Fleming, and William Whitaker to organize Design With Nature Now to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ian McHarg's landmark book. The celebration involved a conference, three exhibitions, a book, and a special issue of the journal Socio-Ecological Practice Research.
Also in 2019, the University of Pennsylvania School of Design was renamed the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
Selected books
*''The Politics of New Town Planning'' (1981)
*''Ecological Planning for Farmlands Preservation'' (1981)
*''The Living Landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning'' (1991)
*''Human Ecology: Following Nature's Lead''
*''Planning and Urban Design Standards'' (with Kent Butler 2006)
*''Design for a Vulnerable Planet'' (2011)
*''Urban Ecological Design'' (with Danilo Palazzo 2012)
*''Nature and Cities: The Ecological Imperative for Urban Design and Planning ''(editor with George F. Thompson and Armando Carbonell 2016)
References
External links
'Imagining New Futures' keynote address by Fritz SteinerZero Carbon Communities Symposium : Fritz Steiner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steiner, Frederick
People from Dayton, Ohio
University of Texas at Austin faculty
1949 births
Living people
University of Cincinnati alumni
University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni
Arizona State University faculty
Washington State University faculty
University of Colorado Denver faculty
University of Pennsylvania faculty
American urban planners