Hi,
I’m Peter, an urban planner + landscape designer focused on creating ecologically self-sufficient and socially just communities. I seek alternatives to conventional notions of development, exploring regenerative models of urban design in supporting sustainable infrastructural processes and carbon drawdown.
My work centers on building inclusive cities that can adapt to climate challenges while addressing socio-spatial inequalities and the need for biophilic design in supporting greater well-being for human and non-human life.
I am inspired to contribute to urban transformation through practice in interdisciplinary and community-driven design, city planning, and research.
My experience includes public, nonprofit, and private sector work across cities including Memphis, Pittsburgh, NYC, and Ithaca, NY.
statement of purpose:
My professional and research interests focus on the intersection of regional planning, multi-scalar infrastructure, and urban ecological design to create low-carbon, inclusive cities with increased resilience to climate threats. Built and natural environments as enmeshed and there is a need to mediate these thresholds by integrating regenerative practices—i.e. smart urban agriculture, material ecologies, biophilic design, etc. - that will foster healthier, more productive, and happier urban places.
Post-industrial cities, grappling with climate challenges and the legacy of 20th-century planning, offer opportunities to reconnect fragmented socioeconomic and ecological networks. Meanwhile, rapidly urbanizing cities face unique pressures, including resource scarcity, requiring “leapfrog” solutions that bypass traditional carbon-intensive infrastructure. I am especially interested in planning for ecological urbanism that not only addresses climate but also deepens social equity and integrates marginalized communities.
A cool legacy of city planning and scholarship exists within my family. My grandfather, taught city planning at Cornell and served as the Dean for the College of AAP. His grandfather, Daniel Burnham, was a Chicago based architect and planner whose work includes the 1909 Plan of Chicago.
I look forward to expanding my contributions to the fields of urbanism, ecology, and design through the intersection of professional practice within interdisciplinary design and planning / research and writing, and / Multimedia design as it relates to imagining and creating regenerative models of urban living. Models that involve a holistic approach to human and non-human well-being and a commitment to honor the integrity of all people along our short ride within this vastly entangled globe.