Résumé Peter Flinker
Landscape Architect

Professional Experience

Dodson Associates, Ltd.
Landscape Architects and Planners, Ashfield, Massachusetts

Principal: 1998 - Present
Project Manager and Landscape Architect: 1987-Present

Landscape Architect and project manager on projects ranging in scale from residential and commercial site design to regional planning. Active in exploration of the use of creative design and alternative technologies to accommodate growth in rural landscapes. As an author and illustrator, has prepared numerous publications designed to help both professionals and laypeople understand complex planning and design concepts, including the award-winning South County Design Manual, the Urban Environmental Design Manual, and the Rhode Island Conservation Development Manual. A frequent presenter to conservation groups, town boards and professional organizations on the topics of Smart Growth and Sustainable Development, has facilitated dozens of charrettes for Main Streets and downtown infill sites, as well as rural highway corridors and growth centers.

Selected Recent Projects

A leader in developing approaches to watershed management and regional open space planning that give cultural, historic and recreational resources equal weight with natural resources in setting priorities for greenway planning and open space preservation. For the South County Greenspace Project, led over 45 meetings in nine towns to develop local plans for greenspace protection and greenway development, and merged these into the area’s first regional plan. With the successful conclusion of the South County Greenspace Project, led the expansion of the effort into a statewide program that completed a Greenspace Plan for the Woonasquatucket Watershed in 2004 and continues in the Scituate Reservoir Watershed. Has applied this approach, which is designed to place decisions about the conservation and/or development of individual sites into the context of regional natural, cultural and recreational systems, to nuberous towns in Massachusetts and the ongoing Green Infrastructure Plan for Saratoga County, New York.

Active in developing masterplans that help towns promote affordable housing and economic development while preserving historic landscapes and main streets. Led planning and design charrettes for four redevelopment sites for the Blackstone River Visioning Project, created a downtown masterplan for the Old Harbor Visioning Project on Block Island and led two charrettes for Upper Main Road as part of the Tiverton Commercial Design Guidelines Project. Following the successful model of the South Kingstown Residential Design Manual (1998), the masterplan concepts for Tivertons's commercial areas are being translated into an illustrated design manual that will serve as a flexible guide for commercial development.

Awards

• Boston Society of Landscape Architects: 2007 Merit Award for the Urban Environmental Design Manual.
• Boston Society of Landscape Architects: 2006 Honor Award for The Rhode Island Greenspace Program.
• Boston Society of Landscape Architects: 2006 Honor Award for The Blackstone River Visioning Project.
• American Society of Landscape Architects: 2003 Merit Award in Analysis &
Planning for the Buffalo Bayou Masterplan, Houston, TX (with ECO Plan).
• American Society of Landscape Architects: 2002 Honor Award for The South County Design Manual.
• Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission: 2002 State Historic Preservation Awards, Planning Award, for South County Watersheds Technical Planning Assistance Project.
• Boston Society of Landscape Architects, 1992 Merit Award for Mansfield Training School Masterplan.
• Boston Society of Architects: Second Award, 1988 Boston Visions National Design Competition, Sapphire Necklace Plan

Professional Registration and Affiliations

• Massachusetts Registered Landscape Architect #976
• Member, American Society of Landscape Architects
• Member, American Institute of Certified Planners
• ASLA Centennial Community Assistance Team: New England Greenway Project
• Connecticut River Watershed Council Community Watershed Advisory Network

Education

University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Masters in Landscape Architecture, 1987
Hope College, Holland, Michigan, Bachelor of Science in Biology, 1982

Teaching Experience and Speaking Engagements

1988-Present: Studio Instructor, Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning - University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Since 1988, principal or co-instructor for 15 design studios.

Selected Speaking Engagements include:

• Fabos Landscape Planning and Greenway Symposium, “Landscape Planning for Cultural Ecosystems,” March, 2007.
• 8th Anual New England Greenway Symposium, "The Saratoga County Green Infrastructure Plan," April, 2006.
• 2005 APA New England Planning Conference, “Smart Growth Planning: How a small town at the threshold can guide new growth,” November, 2005
• New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, 16th Annual Nonpoint Source Pollution Conference, “Combining Low Impact Development with Planning for Smart Growth,” May, 2005
• Citizen’s Housing & Planning Association, Working with Chapter 40B Conference, “Dealing with Density,” December 2004.
• American Planning Association New England Planning Expo, “Using Design Innovation and Process to Get Along with Developers,” September, 2004.
• Fabos Landscape Planning and Greenway Symposium, “Greenspace Planning in Three Dimensions,” April, 2004.
• New Hampshire Integrated Design/ Integrated Development Conference, “Integrating Watershed-Scale Greenspace Planning with Design of Sustainable Growth Centers in Small Towns,” March 2004
• North American Lake Management Society, 23rd International Symposium, “Growing Smarter: Planning for Development in Watersheds,” November, 2003.
• Seaway Trail, Inc./ SUNY Center for Community Studies Lecture Series, “Planning and Design for Sustainable Development,” April, 2003
• University of Rhode Island Landscape Architecture Lecture Series, “The Suburban Edge – Struggling to Maintain Place, January, 2003.
• American Planning Association Region I Conference, “Greenway Planning and Conservation Development,” September, 2002.
• Rhode Island Statewide Historic Preservation Conference, “Protecting Cultural Landscapes: The South County Greenspace Project,” April, 2002.
• Rhode Island Governor’s Growth Council, “South County Technical Planning Assistance Project,” September, 2001
• Northeastern Rivers Symposium, “The South County Design Manual,” April, 2001.
• Massachusetts Land Trust Conference, “GIS for Land Trusts,” March 2001.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in-house lecture, “Visual Tools for Planning: The South County Design Manual,” December, 2000.
• New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission 11th Annual Nonpoint Source Meeting, “Flexible Design for Sustainable Development,” May 2000.
• Northern Middlesex Council of Governments Regional Training Workshops, “Design Principles for Better Development,” May 2000.