2020 Prize Recipient

Avery Harmon (MCP ‘21)

Witte-Sakamoto Family Prize in City and Regional Planning

Avery Harmon is a second year Urban Planning student at the Weitzman School of Design. His primary areas of interest include real estate and anchor institution development. After learning about Redlining, he began exploring the relationship between the built environment and quality of life in American cities. 

Prior to attending UPenn, Harmon worked for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, where he stewarded an outreach and planning process focused on neighborhoods in northwest and south Baltimore. He is co-president of the Weitzman School of Design Real Estate Club and recently interned at Drexel University’s Nowak Metro Finance Lab, where he researched anchor procurement and minority business development. Harmon graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a B.A. in Global Studies.  

Harmon was selected by a jury that included Francesca Russello Ammon, associate professor of Weitzman city and regional planning and historic preservation, Barbara Faga, professor of professional practice in urban design at Rutgers University, Lisa Nutter, principal, Sidecar Social Finance, Weitzman Dean and Paley Professor Fritz Steiner, and Bill Witte, Weitzman alumnus and board of advisors member and ceo of Related California.

Meet Avery Harmon

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  • Avery speaks at the 2018 SHIFT Festival in Jackson Hole, WY. Photographer: Peter Lobozzo
  • Avery rides his bike on the Gwynns Falls Trail in Baltimore, MD. Photographer: Jim Brown
  • Avery walks on the Jones Fall Trail at the Rawlings-Blake Conservancy in Baltimore, MD. Photography: Ana Tantaros, Side-A Photography