Cityland describes places where Larry Witzling has worked, lived and practiced. As an academic, teacher, and practitioner he sees the fields of urban planning and urban design from multiple, often conflicting, perspectives. His photographs reflect both the harmonious as well as disharmonious places that inspire him.

These essays come from years of work with colleagues, students, teachers, family and friends. Barclay Jones, his mentor in his doctoral studies, taught him that innovation begins in practice, not in academia. Colin Rowe activated history and tradition as a never ending source of great ideas. John Hejduk taught him to see poetry in form. Grady Clay taught him that no project is finished until you report its outcomes. Don Schon’s book, The Reflective Practitioner, created the hope that this way of seeing professional work has value.

Larry Witzling grew up in Manhattan during the 1950s and 1960s where he learned to explore, love, and wonder at the never-ending places of New York City. He lives in a traditional urban suburb of Shorewood.  His projects have ranged in scale from small critical improvements to local street to large urban redevelopment projects replacing freeways in Milwaukee.  While focused primarily on work in Wisconsin, his work on design competitors encompassed regions of across the United States. 

Currently Larry resides in Milwaukee Wisconsin. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee where he taught several generations of planners and designers since 1972. Larry holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Cooper Union. In 2017 he was named the American Planning Association’s Planning Pioneer of the Year. His professional achievements have been recognized by Progressive Architecture, the American Institute of Architects, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the American Planning Association as well as local, state and regional organizations. Dr. Witzling led the Planning & Design Institute, Inc. (PDI), a firm he founded in 1988, and partnered with Jeffrey Ollswang in Design Competition Services where they managed over 20 national and international design competitions. In 2008 PDI was incorporated into GRAEF engineering where Larry practiced as a Principal and Senior Urban Designer until 2025. He continues to write and practice.

If you are interested in using the writing or photography from Cityland, please contact Larry below.

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