Symposium Agenda

Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.: Inspirations for the 21st Century

8–8:45 am  
Registration
Coffee, tea, juice, and light refreshments provided.

8:45–9 am  
Welcome and Opening Remarks

9–9:30 am  
Opening Keynote 

• Thomas J. Campanella, PhD, associate professor, Urban Planning and Design, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

9:30–10:30 am 
Park Systems and Provision of Public Space

• Tim Davis, PhD, lead historian, Park Historic Structures & Cultural Landscapes Program, National Park Service
  Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and the Park System of Washington, D.C.

• David Holden, AICP,  landscape architect and planner
  On the Development of Greater Baltimore
  Cited by Olmsted himself in the late 1930s as “one of the finest plans of its kind I ever did,” the 1904 Report Upon the Development of Public Grounds for Baltimore was more than a “parks” plan.  This session will focus on the key aim of the 1904 Report:  demonstrating how establishing a park system—including extensive natural reservations that reach far beyond the city itself—was a vital means of structuring a better city and region.  Most of the 1904 Report was directed to areas outside the existing city of the time.  The report showed how, as the city acquired outlying reservations and built the boulevards and parkways recommended, it would create a more efficient and more attractive framework for its inevitable growth.  The 1904 Report was only one of many projects of the Olmsted firm in Baltimore from 1900 up until World War II, but it was perhaps the most significant with regard to its scope and in establishing “city planning” as a necessary part of city governance and improving the quality of urban living.

10:45 am–12:15 pm  
Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and the American City—Panel Session

• Robert Fishman, professor of architecture and urban planning, University of Michigan, moderator
• Alexander Garvin, president and CEO, AGA Public Realm Strategists; professor at Yale School of Architecture
• Arleyn Levee, landscape historian and preservation consultant, specializing in the work of the Olmsted Brothers firm 
• Peter Pollock, FAICP, urban planner, Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy  

12:15–1:15 pm
Lunch

1:15–1:45 pm  
Landscape Architecture Keynote
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. in the Context of American Landscape Architecture

• Laurie Olin, FASLA 

1:45–2 pm  
Vignette

2–3:30 pm   
Regional and Metropolitan Planning—Panel Session

• Dan Jones, chairman and CEO, 21st Century Parks, on Louisville, KY
• Phillip Morris, former executive editor of Southern Living Magazine
• Eric Tamulonis, ASLA,  LEED AP, principal, Wallace Roberts Todd LLC, on Louisville, KY and Birmingham, AL
• Robert Yaro, president, Regional Plan Association, on The New York Regional Plan

3:45–5:15 pm   
The Politics of Planning—Panel Session
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. lived in an era of big plans, and his legacy lies in the large-scale accomplishments that still define so many of our landscapes. Our own dreams are no smaller, however, and our challenges are if anything more severe. From climate change to energy use to public health to all the flavors of sustainability, effective action today requires large-scale collaborative planning. But how do we actually enact bold and wide-ranging plans that work on many scales and across countless jurisdictions? How do we build confidence in our governments and in our mechanisms? How do we foster collaboration among constituents who are more often in conflict? In what ways can planners and other practitioners learn from and build on not just the work but the mindset of Olmsted Jr.?

• Timothy Mennel, senior acquisitions editor, University of Chicago Press, moderator
• Harriet Tregoning, director of the DC Office of Planning, Washington, D.C. 
• Karen Walz, FAICP, principal, Strategic Community Solutions

5:15–5:30 pm   
Closing Remarks

Friday, October 11
Tours of Olmsted Jr. Landscapes in Washington, DC - T.B.D.

The symposia are made possible thanks to the work of the National Association for Olmsted Parks (NAOP) and its partners, the National Building Museum, American Planning Association, American Society of Landscape Architects, East Bay Regional Park District, and Stanford University, with the generous support from the Stephen and Margaret Gill Family Foundation.