ABOUT
Michael A. Stern, ASLA LEED AP
Michael Stern is an independent urban and landscape design consultant, guided by the mission of creating compelling places for people's everyday lives. Working collaboratively with other design firms and public and private clients, he brings a broad outlook and extensive experience to each design or planning assignment.
Prior to establishing MAS Places in 2017, he was a founding principal of Strada, a cross-disciplinary design firm in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, PA. Michael led the firm’s urban design and landscape architecture efforts, working closely with architects and designers on projects from riverfront parks to district master plans. Before founding Strada, he was involved in many of Pittsburgh’s major urban design and planning efforts. He led the Pittsburgh Downtown Plan, the first comprehensive master plan for the greater Downtown area in 35 years, and the Pittsburgh Regional Parks Master Plan; these documents are still touchstones for planning in that city, years after their completion.
A native New Yorker, his professional experience in the New York firms of Cooper, Robertson & Partners and Quennell Rothchild & Partners gave him broad training in the various aspects of planning, design, and construction of private and public urban precincts and landscapes. His subsequent teaching and research while a full-time faculty member at the University of Virginia School of Architecture focused on understanding the changing nature of urban form and organization in the face of new technologies and economies.
Michael has lectured widely, and he has published and edited numerous articles and journals on planning, urban design, and landscape design theory. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and has participated in the national Urban Revitalization Council, as well as on numerous Advisory Service Panels across the country. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Grinnell College and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.