Professor Emerita Architecture Isabelle Gournay, Associate Professor of American Studies Mary Corbin Sies and colleague Robert Freestone have earned the prize for Best Planning History, Edited Work by the International Planning History Society for their book, Iconic Planned Communities and the Challenge of Change (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2019). The prize is awarded every other year.
Iconic Planned Communities and the Challenge of Change offers case studies of 23 planned communities on six continents, from Scotland’s 19th-century New Lanark company town to the new urbanist enclave, Seaside, in Florida. With contributions from 25 authors whose expertise spans the disciplines, the book explores the juxtaposition of the bucolic planned community and the realities of a changing world, unfolding the social, political and economic drivers that influenced their fates.
The book was lauded for it’s “historic scope and interdisciplinary perspective” by the committee. Gournay, Sies and Freestone were the book’s editors.
“Isabelle, Mary and Rob present a diverse and compelling collection of planned communities in their book, each offering a lesson in adaptation and resilience,” says Interim Dean Donald Linebaugh. “This is a tremendous and well-deserved achievement.”