Bruce Stephenson is dedicated to the art of city planning.  A former Pinellas County land use planner, he earned a PhD at Emory University writing a dissertation that unveiled John Nolen’s 1923 plan for St. Petersburg, Florida, the state's first comprehensive city plan. Nolen, a disciple of Fredrick Law Olmsted, designed a timeless blueprint to promote “the brotherhood of man in unity with nature” that centered Stephenson's first book, Visions of Eden.  

 

Stephenson's advocacy for the New Urbanism, for which Nolen is a patron saint, led him to author the introduction for the re-print of New Ideals in the Planning of Cities, Towns, and Villages and a definitive biography, John Nolen, Landscape Architect and City Planner, which earned the JB Jackson book award. 

 

Stephenson coupled a desire to live without a car, service on sustainability committees in Orlando and Portland and a study of Lewis Mumford to write Portland's Good Life: Sustainability and Hope in an American City (2021). Since 2020, he has authored works for The Classicist, Smart Cities, The Wilder Heart of Florida, Iconic Planned Communities: The Challenge of Change, and Public Square. 

 

​A devotee of the pragmatic liberal arts at Rollins College, Stephenson led urban and environmental design projects with community partners.  His insights have appeared in 40 editorials (After Hurricane Michael, Orlando's Vision is Priceless), PBS interviews (Planning a Less Autocentric City) and documentaries (Venice Florida: Moving Forward by Looking Back).  

 

A consultant on urban sustainability for a range of clients, his longest-running project, the ecological restoration of the Genius Preserve, earned the 1000 Friends of Florida's Better Community Award.  ​

​

Since retiring from Rollins, Stephenson is writing a new book, The Clansman and the City Plan: Thomas Dixon and John Nolen’s Competing Visions for a New Nation.  Building on Nolen’s relationship with W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, he outlined the book in the keynote to the Cincinnati Design Forum and on Cincinnati Showcase. Currently, he is partnering with Dover Kohl on the Seaboard Plan for Venice, Florida. Nolen's plan for the historic new town (listed on the National Register) included Harlem Village, a model community designed for African Americans.

​

Stephenson is the recipient of the John Nolen Medal, Graham Frey Award, and Addison Mizner Medal. ​