Dr. Bruce Stephenson
The Art & Justice of City Planning
![Venice-Plan-cropped_0[2859610].jpeg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b6a1e7_8600acbb6a784e34b19950a1451be09b~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_496,h_292,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Venice-Plan-cropped_0%5B2859610%5D.jpeg)
Bruce Stephenson is dedicated to the art of city planning. A former Pinellas County land use planner, he earned his PhD at Emory University. His dissertation unveiled John Nolen’s 1923 plan for St. Petersburg, Florida's first comprehensive city plan. A timeless blueprint to promote “the brotherhood of man in nature,” it centered Stephenson's first book, Visions of Eden.
Stephenson's advocacy for the New Urbanism, for which Nolen is a patron saint, led him to author the introduction for the re-print of New Ideals in the Planning of Cities, Towns, and Villages and a definitive biography, John Nolen, Landscape Architect and City Planner, which earned the JB Jackson book award.
Stephenson's service on sustainability and planning committees in Orlando and Portland produced his recent book, Portland's Good Life: Sustainability and Hope in an American City.
Since 2020, he has authored works for The Classicist, Smart Cities, The Wilder Heart of Florida, Iconic Planned Communities: The Challenge of Change, and Public Square.
As a professor at Rollins College, Stephenson advanced the pragmatic liberal arts by leading urban and environmental design projects with community partners. His insights have appeared in 40 editorials ( After Hurricane Michael, Orlando's Vision is Priceless), PBS interviews (Planning a Less Autocentric City) and documentaries (e.g. Venice Florida: Moving Forward by Looking Back).
A consultant on urban sustainability for a range of clients, his longest-running project, the ecological restoration of the Genius Preserve, earned the 1000 Friends of Florida's Better Community Award.
Since retiring from Rollins, Stephenson is writing a new book, The Clansman and the City Plan: Thomas Dixon and John Nolen’s Competing Visions for a New Nation. This project, the result of new findings on Nolen’s relationship with W.E.B DuBois and Booker T. Washington, was outlined in his keynote to the Cincinnati Design Forum and appearance on Cincinnati Showcase. He is currently a partner with Dover Kohl in preparing the Seaboard Plan for Venice, Florida.
Stephenson is the recipient of the John Nolen Medal, Graham Frey Civic Award, and Addison Mizner Medal.
