"The Ideal City: New Landscapes for Old Cities" is the title of this week's talk in the lunchtime Distinguished Lecturer series titled "The Restoration Agenda: Focus on Plants" at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES). The series, which is already underway, looks at such topics as naturalistic landscaping, restoring tidal wetlands, planning urban roofscapes and wallscapes, and use of plants for selective uptake of heavy metal contaminants, among other topics.

The series, held on Wednesdays, is open to the public for a fee of $100 per person for the semester. A limited number of fellowships are available for qualified registrants. For registration information, contact Aimlee D. Laderman, lecturer in wetland ecology and research affiliate at the F&ES, telephone 432-3335, or e-mail aimlee.
laderman@yale.edu.

In the next talk in the series, on Jan. 27, urban landscape architect Diana Balmori, F&ES lecturer in landscape and urban history, will discuss the ways that new ecological ideas and technology are providing an opportunity to rethink how cities are shaped. All talks in the series are held 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in Bowers Auditorium at Sage Hall, 205 Prospect St.

"New thinking about both planting and infrastructure can produce cities very different from the ones we know," Balmori says. "Rethinking a sidewalk, wall or roof plantings can bring about an enormous change in the relationship between paved and green surfaces in cities. Rethinking the way we treat drainage water can serve as a basis for the creation of green public space. Finally, garbage has become a very visible part of our landscape that must be accounted for in our urban planning."

Balmori founded her own urban design firm, Balmori Associates Inc., in 1990 and is principal designer. Her projects include landscape and urban design for the Miami Center for the Performing Arts in Florida; Abandoibarra, Ria de Bilbao, in Bilbao, Spain; and the University of Texas Master Plan in Austin, Tex., among numerous other commissions. Her work with the historic Farmington Canal in Connecticut was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Calif., in April of 1994, and subsequently traveled around the United States and Canada.

This is the fourth year of of the forestry school's "Restoration Agenda" lecture series, during which distinguished leaders in the field of environmental restoration are invited to discuss outstanding problems and their most promising solutions. The lectures, which are cosponsored by the Society for Ecological Restoration and the New Haven Land Trust, are designed to be of particular value to people involved in all aspects of natural resource management.

Lunchtime discussions following the talks provide an informal forum to encourage interaction among community members, government officials, and Yale students and faculty. With additional support from the Watershed Fund of the Regional Water Authority and Roots Inc., the lectures present state-of-the-art perspectives on the prevention and repair of environmental degradation.

Future talk topics are: Feb. 3, "Bioengineering to Restore Riparian Plant Communities"; Feb. 10, "Wetlands and Global Warming: Can Plants Migrate Fast Enough to Survive?"; Feb. 17, "Pfiesteria piscicida: Mysterious Case of the Jeckl and Hyde Alga"; Feb. 24, "Restoring Fire to Southwestern Forests: Landscape History as a Restorationist's Guide"; March 3, "Managing Urban Ecosystems"; March 24, "Are Restoration and Mitigation Compatible?"; March 31, "A Look Beneath the Surface: The Role of Mycorrhizal Fungi in Forest Restoration"; and April 7, "Fish Use of Restored Marshes: Problems in Phragmites Eradication."