Author to Speak on Building Sustainable Communities

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer Thomas Hylton, author of Save Our Land, Save Our Towns, will speak on building sustainable communities at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

The lecture will be held in room 203 in Willard J. Walker Hall and is free and open to the public. His talk is sponsored by the Applied Sustainability Center and Associated Student Government.

Save Our Land, Save Our Towns is a plea for comprehensive planning to save cities, towns and countryside. Hylton also hosted the public television documentary Save Our Land, Save Our Towns, which has aired on more than 100 PBS stations nationwide.

Hylton’s work touches on all aspects of building a sustainable community:  urban forestry, historic preservation, smart growth, walkability and bikeability, among others.  At the center of all these issues is land use.

Since publication of his book, Hylton has given 450 presentations on land use planning and community building. He also has addressed the National Governors Association and gatherings of legislators sponsored by both the Democratic and Republican caucuses of the Pennsylvania House and Senate.

Hylton won a Pulitizer Prize in 1990 for his editorials in The Mercury of Pottstown, Pa., advocating the preservation of farmland and open space in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Hylton is a three-time winner of the American Planning Association’s annual journalism award and received a fellowship from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1993 to study state planning issues.

He currently serves in the pro bono position of president of Save Our Land, Save Our Towns Inc., a non-profit corporation. In that role, he advocates for traditional towns that serve as homes to people of all ages, races and incomes.