Join us for an author talk with Riverside’s Cathy Maloney as she discusses her newest book, Olmsted's Riverside: Stewardship Meets Innovation in a Landmark Village.  Releasing on December 18 from Southern Illinois University Press, this richly illustration book delves into how Riverside's layout and design presaged today's urban planning goals of walkability, green space, public transportation access, sustainability, and resiliency. 

Combining landscape architecture, regional history, and urban design, Maloney shows how Riverside's leaders and residents struggled with stewardship of Olmsted's ideals by balancing competing interests in suburban development and Chicago sprawl from the 1870s to the 2020s. She details how the village adapted to tragedies such as the Great Fire of 1871 and the Panic of 1873, as well as advancements in transportation, local civic life, urban policy, and environmental thought, all while staying true to the framework inherited from Olmsted and Vaux.

In the end, Olmsted's Riverside shows how audacious civic planning and thoughtful conservation can provide a model for future American suburbs.

Cathy Jean Maloney is a landscape historian and author of five books on garden and environmental history, including World’s Fair Gardens: Shaping American Landscapes. 

Books will be available for sale and signing. This event is co-sponsored by FLOS.

Registration required.