Envisioning the natural city: The guest-editor's foreword

Abstract

The author is Guest Editor for the present volume of Ekistics (vol. 71,nos. 424-426 and 427-429, 2004) on The Natural City. Dr Stefanovic agreed to serve as the Director for the new Centre for Environment, University of Toronto, commencing July I, 2005, for a five-year term. She is the former Director of the Division of the Environment, one of the three units now integrated into the new Centre, and former Associate Chair for the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. Dr Stefanovic is a Professor of Philosophy, whose teaching and research focus on values and perceptions of environmental decision making. She has a 30-year teaching and research career in interdisciplinary fields, ranging from environmental ethics to urban planning and environmental policy development. Her most recent book is entitled Safeguarding Our Common Future: Rethinking Sustainable Development (SUNY, 2000). Dr Stefanovic, one of the earliest members of the World Society for Ekistics, having served on various occasions as member of the Executive Council and officer of the Society, was the organizer and acted as Chair of the international symposion on"The Natural City," 23-25 June, 2004, sponsored by the University of Toronto's Division of the Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, and the World Society for Ekistics.