Biography

Ann Forsyth’s work focuses on the social aspects of physical planning and urban development. The big question behind her research and practice is how to make cities more sustainable and healthy. Forsyth's contributions have been to analyze the success of planned alternatives to sprawl, particularly exploring the tensions between social and ecological values in urban design. Several issues prove to be the most difficult to deal with in planning better places and provide a focus for some of her more detailed investigations: suburban design more generally (sense of place, overall layout) and other aspects of healthy places (walkability, social diversity, housing, green space, food).

Ann Forsyth’s biography and key interests are described on her faculty page at Cornell.

Editorships and Web Sites

Forsyth has been review editor of the Journal of Planning Education and Research, a co-editor of Planning Theory journal, and a co-editor of Progressive Planning magazine. She has been involved with making several web sites including www.designforhealth.net and an earlier version of www.housinginitiative.org. She has a monthly Planetizen blog.

For more information about these sites see the section on Other Media.

Awards

She has won over fifty awards, citations, and fellowships for individual and collaborative professional and research work. These include a Fulbright scholarship and national awards from the American Planning Association, American Institute of Certified Planners, American Society of Landscape Architects, Environmental Design Research Association, and Planning Institute of Australia. Professor Forsyth's research has been funded by such groups as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Federal Highway Administration, USDA Forest Service, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Lincoln Land Institute, and Graham Foundation.

Publications

Academic and Professional Publications
Other Media
Tools, Manuals, and Methods