To celebrate the Bloustein School's approaching 30th anniversary in 2022, EJBTalks will feature some of our beloved faculty members who made the school what it is today. The first of those is Professor Emeritus Frank Popper, who spent over three decades teaching in our world-ranked urban planning program. Professor Popper shares his incredible "accidental academic" story, where he went from land use and environmental consultant to renowned researcher and the co-proposer of the concept of the Buffalo Commons. Frank talks in-depth with Stuart Shapiro about the Commons, its history, its significance, and the current economic and environmental signs that confirm the idea that the depopulated center of the country should capitalize on its heritage as the home of the buffalo.