Baltimore Ecosystem Study Information

On June 15, 2005 the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) devoted its quarterly science meeting to the topic of Urban Design. BES is a long term urban ecological research project funded by the National Science Foundation whose three main goals are research, education and community engagement. The common ground found through cross disciplinary presentations and discussions from this meeting creates new opportunities to connect ecosystem science and urban design which is unprecedented and unique to Baltimore. Members of the Baltimore's design community, scientists from BES the Parks & People Foundation (PPF) and Urban Design faculty and students from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University met to discuss Baltimore's potential as a healthy and well-designed city. BES incorporates a watershed framework in order to understand how cities can be structured and function as healthy ecosystems. Students and faculty are using Urban Design as a tool to reorganize space around the heterogeneity of urban geology, topography, water systems, vegetation and historical building patterns. The day long meeting consisted of presentations from the Baltimore design community, students and faculty from Columbia's GSAPP, and break out sessions where attendees discussed their roles in further developing connections between BES research and Urban Design. Jackie Carrera, Executive Director of Parks & People Foundation welcomed the meetings participants to Brown Center at Maryland Institute College of Art, as great example of contemporary architectural design a fitting place to find common ground between ecosystem science and great design. Ms. Carrera's introduction was followed by a presentation by Thor Nelson from Baltimore Department of City Planning, followed by a historic overview of the city's urban design heritage by Walter Schamu. Steward Pickett, Director of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study introduced the second part of the meeting by outlining the importance of Urban Design in ...