Ed McMahon

Ed McMahon is an attorney, community planner, lecturer and author; he is currently Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C., where he holds the Charles Fraser Chair on Sustainable Development. Before joining the Urban Land Institute in 2004, Ed spent 14 years as the Vice President and Director of Land Use Planning for The Conservation Fund in Arlington, Virginia. He is also the co-founder and former President of Scenic America, a national non-profit organization devoted to protecting America’s scenic landscapes. Before that, he taught law and public policy at Georgetown University Law Center for nine years and served in the U.S. Army at home and overseas. He is the author of 15 publications and over 150 articles, including: Ten Principles for Smart Growth on the Suburban Fringe (ULI, 2004); Green Infrastructure: Connecting Landscapes and Communities (Island Press, 2006); Land Conservation Financing (Island Press, 2003); Better Models for Commercial Development (Conservation Fund, 2004); and Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities (Island Press, 1997). He also writes regularly for Urban Land Magazine, Planning Commissioners Journal and other periodicals. His latest work, Conservation Communities, was released in August 2010. Over the past 20 years, Ed has drafted numerous local land use plans and ordinances. He has organized successful efforts to acquire and protect urban parkland, wilderness areas and other conservation properties. Ed has an M.A. in Urban Studies from the University of Alabama and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law School.