Urban Design

by Alex Krieger, William S. Saunders

Overview

Highlights key issues in contemporary urban design through a discussion of its origins, current state, and future

Fifty years ago a landmark conference at Harvard University established urban design as a distinct architectural and planning practice. Today, with the world’s urban population surpassing three billion people, urban design has become more crucial than ever. Indeed, the concerns that initially brought leading architects and city planners together—including concerns over sprawl, pollution, and aging infrastructure—have only intensified over the past half century.

In Urban Design, Alex Krieger and William S. Saunders have assembled prominent figures in architecture, planning, and landscape design to look back on the evolution of the discipline of urban design; assess the current state of the field; and anticipate the challenges posed by the unprecedented rate of urbanization, particularly in the developing world, and how the profession will need to adapt in order to confront them. The volume opens with excerpts from transcripts of the 1956 Harvard conference followed by essays that contextualize and critique its assumptions and ambitions. Subsequent essays address such topics as the social conscience of urban design and stake out the competing sensibilities in the field, from New Urbanism to avant-garde.

As humanity becomes an urban species to a degree that was unimaginable fifty years ago, this comprehensive volume seeks to encourage today’s designers to draw on the energy and messy vitality of cities in shaping tomorrow’s urban environments.

Contributors: Jonathan Barnett, Denise Scott Brown, Joan Busquets, Kenneth Greenberg, John Kaliski, Timothy Love, Fumihiko Maki, Richard Marshall, Eric Mumford, Michelle Provoost, Peter G. Rowe, Edward W. Soja, Richard M. Sommer, Michael Sorkin, Emily Talen, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Wouter Vanstiphout, Charles Waldheim.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780816656394
Publisher:	University of Minnesota Press
Publication date:	02/17/2009
Series:	Wicazo SA Review Ser.
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,009,508
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

William S. Saunders is editor of Harvard Design Magazine and assistant dean for external relations at Harvard University. He is the author of Modern Architecture: Photographs by Ezra Stoller and editor of the Harvard Design Magazine Readers, published by Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Introduction: An Urban Frame of Mind Alex Krieger vii

Origins of an Urban Design Sensibility

The First Urban Design Conference: Extracts 3

The Emergence of Urban Design in the Breakup of CIAM Eric Mumford 15

The Elusiveness of Urban Design: The Perpetual Problem of Definition and Role Richard Marshall 38

Perspectives on a Half-Century of Urban Design Practice

Urban Design at Fifty: A Personal View Denise Scott Brown 61

Fragmentation and Friction as Urban Threats: The Post-1956 City Fumihiko Maki 88

The Way We Were, the Way We Are: The Theory and Practice of Designing Cities since 1956 Jonathan Barnett 101

Territories of Urban Design Practice

Where and How Does Urban Design Happen? Alex Krieger 113

Defining the Urbanistic Project: Ten Contemporary Approaches Joan Busquets 131

Beyond Centers, Fabrics, and Cultures of Congestion: Urban Design as a Metropolitan Enterprise Richard Sommer 135

Debates about Mandates and Purpose

The End(s) of Urban Design Michael Sorkin 155

Bad Parenting Emily Talen 183

Facts on the Ground: Urbanism from Midroad to Ditch Michelle Provoost Wouter Vanstiphout 186

Expanding Roles and Disciplinary Boundaries

A Third Way for Urban Design Kenneth Greenberg 201

Urban Design after Battery Park City: Opportunities for Variety and Vitality Timothy Love 208

The Other '56 Charles Waldheim 227

Democracy Takes Command: New Community Planning and the Challenge to Urban Design John Kaliski 237

Challenges for the Unprecedented Phenomena of Our New Century

Designing the Postmetropolis Edward W. Soja 255

Unforeseen Urban Worlds: Post-1956 Phenomena Peter G. Rowe 270

Urban DesignLooking Forward Marilyn Jordan Taylor 285

Urban Design Now: A Discussion 291

Contributors 327

Index 331