Biophilia Network
Biophilia: My Plate, My Power
Note: This week's biophilia meeting will be in the Center for Sustainable Landscapes classroom. You can access this location by turning into the Phipps employee parking lot by the Christopher Columbus statue on Schenley Drive Extension.
Join us Thurs., Aug. 7 at 6 p.m., for our in-person and virtual Biophilia meeting, to discuss the ways purposeful utilization of land can help grow food, farmers and the community. Hilltop Urban Farm (HUF) is a 23-acre farm located in the former St. Clair Village. Throughout the evening, we will discuss the three programs that are central to the HUF mission: the community farm, the youth farm and the farmer incubator program. Many of the neighborhoods that make up the Hilltop are deemed a High Food Priority Access Area (HFPAA) by the city of Pittsburgh, which makes the farm’s work incredibly impactful.
Not able to join us in person? We will also be streaming the event via Zoom! Register here.
Meetings are free to attend; however, advance registration is required via email. Although this speaking event can be viewed at home, participants are invited to join others in-person to view the presentation at Phipps’ Center for Sustainable Landscapes classroom. Click the button below to reserve your spot today.
Meet the Speakers:
Liz Metzler
Liz Metzler is the director of farm programs at Hilltop Urban Farm and a lover of the natural world. She has worked throughout the last decade connecting people to their food system. Whether it’s working in public gardens, educating youth and adults or farming the land, food has always been the epicenter of her work. When Liz isn’t working she’s teaching yoga, tending to her flower garden and spending quality time with her growing family.
Information for virtual attendees: The Zoom meeting will begin promptly at 6 p.m. (EST), 3 p.m. (PST). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Upcoming Biophilia Meetings
Biophilia: Expanding and Building Stewardship in Pittsburgh's Greenways
Note: This week's biophilia meeting will be in the Center for Sustainable Landscapes classroom. You can access this location by turning into the Phipps employee parking lot by the Christopher Columbus statue on Schenley Drive Extension.
Join us Thurs., Sept. 4 at 6 p.m., for our in-person and virtual Biophilia meeting, where we will be discussing the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning going through the process of designating, engaging community around and building stewardship for new greenways across its steeply sloped geography. In an effort to permanently conserve the urban forest and protect residents from landslide-prone land, an analysis of thousands of city-owned vacant parcels was conducted to determine how much land could and should be designated as greenway. Following the parcel selection, multiple rounds of community engagement and site visits to ground truth findings from the geospatial analysis are being done. Alongside expansion and engagement, a stewardship program was developed to support the City’s limited maintenance capacity and encourage residents and organizations to connect with their new greenway spaces. This presentation will focus on the methodology, lessons learned and engagement strategies of creating new greenways in an urban context. The ongoing work is a delicate balance of navigating both the bureaucratic and personal complexities of land as public commons.
Not able to join us in person? We will also be streaming the event via Zoom! Register here.
Meetings are free to attend; however, advance registration is required via email. Although this speaking event can be viewed at home, participants are invited to join others in-person to view the virtual presentation at Phipps’ Center for Sustainable Landscapes classroom. Click the button below to reserve your spot today.
Meet the Speakers:
Isabella Gross
Isabella Gross is the Principal Environmental Planner in the City of Pittsburgh's Department of City Planning focusing on the planning and development of parks, greenways and open spaces city-wide. Collaborating internally and externally, Isabella hopes to cultivate parks, trails and green spaces that are accessible to all, resilient to climate hazards, and promote biodiversity. Prior to the City of Pittsburgh, Isabella worked at the U.S. Green Building Council managing the LEED for Cities program, engaging with local governments globally and building their capacity to drive local climate action. She got her start as a professional planner working for the City of Philadelphia after a brief stint in the architecture field. Having a multi-cultural background, Isabella approaches her locationally-focused planning work with a global and equity-centered mindset. Isabella received her master’s degree in City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mackenzie Pleskovic
Mackenzie Pleskovic is the Vacant Property Planner in the City of Pittsburgh's Department of City Planning, focusing on the planning and development of vacant lots and open space citywide. In this role, she hopes to facilitate the reactivation of vacant property, land and structures alike, while promoting community ownership and participation in the visioning of ideal end uses for publicly-owned properties. Prior to working for the City of Pittsburgh, Mackenzie worked for several years as a Development Manager for the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh in a project management role focused on affordable housing development in the city's Northside. She received her Bachelor of the Arts degree in environmental studies, art history and urban studies from the University of Pittsburgh and is an AICP-certified planner.
Information for virtual attendees: The Zoom meeting will begin promptly at 6 p.m. (EST), 3 p.m. (PST). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Designed as a series of posts on the Phipps blog and a hashtag for use on Twitter and Instagram, #bioPGH is a new social call-to-action for people throughout the region to more closely examine the beauty and importance of the nature around them.
Inspired by the Biophilic Cities initiative, the Biophilia: Pittsburgh Directory seeks to present an overview of the biophilic organizations, events, activities and projects in Pittsburgh, to aid the public in enhancing their connections to nature and discovering collaborative opportunities.
In this archive, you may access presentation materials and video recordings from previous installments of our monthly Biophilia: Pittsburgh meeting series. Additions will be made often, so visit regularly for the latest materials to deepen your Biophilia: Pittsburgh experience.
Biophilia: Pittsburgh meets monthly at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens where, over delicious small-plates and light refreshments, an expert guest speaker discusses ways of connecting people to nature and showing how these connections can improve our lives in the interest of sharing ideas and identifying opportunities.
Our Goals
• To welcome and inspire others with the concept and principles of biophilia
• To foster collaboration and learning between professionals from a wide variety of disciplines
• To communicate biophilic principles in action-oriented ways to a wider audience for exponential and regional impact
What Is Biophilia?
The term “biophilia,” which literally means “love of life,” was coined by social psychologist Erich Fromm and popularized by biologist E.O. Wilson, who defined it as “the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms.”
The implications of biophilia extend across a vast array of disciplines including design and engineering, nutrition, psychology, public health, education, biology and the humanities. Biophilia is expressed all over the world every day, through complex collaborations such as the design and construction of buildings and landscapes; and intimate, personal encounters including nature hikes and home gardening.
Photo © Paul g. Wiegman, Phipps staff
