Waldheim appointed professor, chair of landscape architecture

Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design Mohsen Mostafavi announced the appointment of Charles Waldheim as professor of landscape architecture and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at GSD, effective July of this year.

“I very much look forward to working with Charles and the landscape faculty in defining the future direction of the department, and in confronting the current challenges and opportunities facing those who teach and practice in the field of landscape architecture,” said Mostafavi during his announcement.

Waldheim’s research focuses on landscape architecture in relation to contemporary urbanism. He coined the term “landscape urbanism” to describe emerging landscape design practices in the context of North American urbanism. He has written extensively on the topic and edited “The Landscape Urbanism Reader” (Princeton Architectural Press, 2006). Citing the city of Detroit as the most legible example of urban industrial economy in North America, Waldheim is editor of “CASE: Lafayette Park Detroit” (Prestel/Harvard Design School, 2004) and co-editor, with Jason Young and Georgia Daskalakis, of “Stalking Detroit” (ACTAR, 2001). On the history and future of Chicago urbanism, he is author of “Constructed Ground” (University of Illinois Press, 2001) and co-editor of “Chicago Architecture and Urbanism: Histories, Revisions, Alternatives” (University of Chicago Press, 2005). He is currently writing the first book-length history of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, titled “Chicago O’Hare: A Natural and Cultural History” (University of Chicago Press). His writing has also appeared in Landscape Journal, Topos, Log, Praxis, 306090, Canadian Architect, Dimensions, and Landscape Architecture Magazine.

Currently, Waldheim is associate professor and director of the landscape architecture program at the University of Toronto. He has lectured on landscape and contemporary urbanism across North America, Europe, and Australasia. He has taught as a visiting faculty member at Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, and Rice University. He is an honorary member of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects, and was the 2006 recipient of the Rome Prize Fellowship in Landscape Architecture at the American Academy in Rome.