Timothy Beatley

Timothy Beatley is the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities at the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, where he has taught for over twenty-five years. His primary teaching and research interests are in environmental planning and policy, with a special emphasis on coastal and natural hazards planning, environmental values and ethics, and biodiversity conservation. He has published extensively in these areas, including the following books: Ethical Land Use; Habitat Conservation Planning: Endangered Species and Urban Growth; Natural Hazard Mitigation; and An Introduction to Coastal Zone Management. In recent years much of his research and writing has been focused on the subject of sustainable communities and creative strategies by which cities and towns can reduce their ecological footprints, while at the same time becoming more livable and equitable places. His books that explore these issues include Biophilic Cities, Resilient Cities, and Blue Urbanism (Island Press).

Can Americans Learn To Share?

It would be an interesting exercise to inventory the "things" we have in our homes and offices—the objects, the equipment, specialized things, electronic and otherwise, that occupy space. Along with this accounting, might be some estimate of how recently the thing has actually been used, and how frequently. My hunch is that much of our home "inventory" consists of things that are used rather infrequently, if ever.

On Celebrating Climate

When I lived in Oregon many years ago there was a humorous expression: "Oregonians Don't Tan, they Rust!" There was much truth to that as much of late fall and winter in the Northwest is damp and rainy. Yet, this weather system is one of the aspects of place I remember most fondly; I can still recall the look and feel and smell of that rain. There was certainly not the sense that the rainy season was to be dreaded, rather it was one of the aspects of place that contributed positively to the special sense of place there.

How Do We Instill a Reverence For Place?

Perhaps because we are such Olympians at moving, at shifting and transitioning to new lives, new jobs and new houses, Americans know relatively little about the places in which they live. Much of my own work has been about the creative ideas for educating about place and region, and for deepening connections to nature and landscape. There are many possibilities, some tried, others only pondered. Part of the task I think is to make learning about community and place fun; something that you would want to do, and that would compete well with the many other life diversions available.
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Telling the Stories of Green Urbanism

Much of my research and writing over the years has focused on telling stories-innovative efforts at moving cities and urban neighborhoods in the direction of sustainability, at finding ways to build economy, reconnect to place and environment, and at once to enhance quality of life and reduce ecological footprints.
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Holiday Gifts that Reflect a Commitment to Place

As we come to the end of another holiday season, it is a fair question to ask whether, for those of us concerned about sustainability, if any of the giving (and holiday consumption) has had any sort of positive effect on places in which we live and care about. Those who view consumption as a generally positive act of citizenship will probably reply in the affirmative, but many of us are troubled by the amount of "stuff" that we buy and give and receive.