A book talk was held on Nov. 12, 2025, in honor of William J. Johnson (1931-2024), dean and professor emeritus of the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), bringing together faculty, students and others in the landscape architecture community to discuss Framework Thinking: Lessons in Community Planning, which was published in July 2025. 

The program was introduced by SEAS Dean Jonathan Overpeck, who described Johnson as a landscape architecture pioneer remembered as a visionary who, during his eight-year tenure as dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment (now SEAS), oversaw many changes, including embracing a multi-disciplinary approach to natural resource management and environmental issues, leaving an indelible impact on the program that’s today considered one of the best in the country. 

SEAS Professor Joan Nassauer then introduced Har Ye Kan, co-author of Framework Thinking, and a community planning and design consultant and founder of HYK Consulting. Kan, who led the panel, was joined by landscape architects Chet Hill (MLA ’89), Mark W. Johnson, and urban planner Greg Holcombe, all of whom Johnson collaborated with extensively and who remember him fondly. 

Throughout the event, Johnson, who was one of the founders of the Johnson, Johnson and Roy (JJR) firm, now SmithGroup, was remembered for his good nature, camaraderie and pioneering design methodology in the voices and anecdotes shared by faculty, former students, family and collaborators that composed both the packed audience and panel. 

Attendees of the event were guided through the iterative and exciting process of landscape design and planning, highlighting the book’s blending of case studies, landscape architecture and planning processes, and Johnson’s philosophies—mapping out a rubric for maintaining an attentiveness to a design energy that permeates across his life’s portfolio. 

Johnson’s collaborative work spanned urban, residential, commercial and artistic realms where his affection for deep creativity, communication and respect for community and landscape remains evident in today’s built environment. His work garnered great accolades and was widely recognized through awards and honors. Among many awards, he received the 1986 American Society of Landscape Architects Gold Medal, its highest honor, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Landscape Architects in 2020.

"It was wonderful to see Bill Johnson's work recognized, and to educate people as to the many contributions Bill made to the field of Landscape Architecture, and to the School of Natural Resources, now SEAS,” said Stan Jones, SEAS associate professor of landscape architecture. “The inclusion of Landscape Architecture into the fabric of this school, orchestrated and overseen by Bill, was critical in making the LA program here in SEAS a true leader in science-based design decision-making. It is clear that when we talk about ecological design here in SEAS, its roots go back to Bill and his work as dean of the school, and as a member of the faculty here at Michigan."