C ol u m bi a Un i v e r s i t y Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
Urban Planning Spring 2014
On the cover: Clara Irazabal’s Trinidad studio in East Port of Spain. Above: First-year students celebrate their exhibits at the opening of the End of Year Show.
Urban Planning Program Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Columbia University in the City of New York 413 Avery Hall, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10027 http://www.arch.columbia.edu/programs/urban-planning up@arch.columbia.edu
Faculty and Staff Lance Freeman Director, Master’s Program
Smita Srinivas Assistant Professor
Trisha Logan Assistant Director
Robert Beauregard Director, Ph.D Program
Stacey Sutton Assistant Professor
Charlotte Egerton Communications Coordinator
Clara Irazabal Assistant Professor
Peter Marcuse Emeritus Faculty
David King Assistant Professor
Elliot Sclar Professor
Leigh Smith Program Assistant
From the Director The Urban Planning program completed an eventful and successful spring semester in 2014. Perhaps most notable was the reaccreditation of Urban Planning program by the Planning Accreditation Board. Accreditation is a sort of good housekeeping seal of approval by the premier professional planning organization in the United States. Current students and alumni can feel confident that their planning education credentials are well respected in the professional planning world. We offered a suite of exciting studios this year including international studios in Tokyo, Japan, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Closer to home, planning studios addressed an array of challenging planning problems including bus rapid transit in Rockland and Westchester counties, privately developed in-fill housing on New York City Housing Authority property, the reuse and redevelopment of former Post Office into Moynihan Station and planning for economic development around Gowanus Bay in Brooklyn. These studios give students the opportunity to hone their planning skills while working with a client to address a planning issue. We are proud of the continued involvement of several alumni, including Gary Roth who taught the Moynihan Studio course, and Eldad Gothelf who taught a zoning in New York City course, in our program. Their professional experience lends strengthens our curriculum and their continued involvement helps connect current students to alumni. We also are fortunate to continue hosting Xin Li as a visiting professor during the 2014-2015 academic year. Xin Li earned her Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lance Freeman Director, Urban Planning Program
End of Year Show Each of the seven studio groups this spring created installations for the Urban Planning exhibit as part of this year’s End of Year Show. The students became intimately familiar with the wood shop, laser cutters, and wide format printers as they curated their studio projects into interactive installations. A few standouts included the Gowanus Bay group’s living shoreline model, the Tappan Zee studio’s BRT model, and the Moynihan Station studio’s model featuring potential programming for the former Farley Post Office, all seen below. John Quadrozzi, GBX studio client and site owner, appreciated the studio’s exhibit so much, he sent a truck from Red Hook to relocate the installation to his site!
Commencement 2014
Commencement is always a much-anticipated day for faculty, staff, family, and friends as we formally celebrate the hard work of a group of intelligent students. However no one anticipated this day more than the 45 graduates of the class of 2014. After years of coursework, studios, thesis, internships and practical experience, receiving that diploma is a satisfactory feeling. Being among your fellow students with whom you undoubtedly shared ideas, projects, and physical space, makes it feel like a communal accomplishment. The remarkably talented class of 2014 included four dual degree students: one each in architecture, public health, social work, and historic preservation. This group has already progressed on to jobs, doctoral programs, and fellowships both here and abroad. We look forward to hearing more about their professional accomplishments as alumni of the program.
From left: Anne Krassner’s family joins her from Brazil for commencement. Xiaowan Zhang and Shichen Zhang with Visiting Professor Xin Li, who served as thesis advisor for Xiaowan. Matthew Mueller and his mother celebrate the occasion.
Awards American Institute of Certified Planners Outstanding Student Award This prize is for outstanding attainment in the study of Urban Planning. Emily Gordon New York Chapter of the American Planning Association’s Robert C. Weinberg Award This award is for academic excellence and leadership in Urban Planning. Natalie Quinn Urban Planning Program Award This prize is for high academic attainment. Benjamin Engle Charles Abrams Thesis Award For a masters thesis that best exemplifies a commitment to social justice. Xiaowan Zhang The Appropriateness of Public Open Space in China’s Urban Village Advisor: Xin Li
Planning Challenge Award William Kinne Fellows For a masters thesis that makes Traveling Prizes a substantive contribution These awards are granted on the to our understanding of a contemporary planning issue. merit of proposals submitted for travel abroad incorporating the Fatema Al Zeera study of architecture, including The Implications of Planning planning and other specialized Failure on State and Civil aspects of architecture. Society: Evaluating the Impacts of Land Reclamation Policies Complete Streets: Preserving the on Fishermen Communities in Vibrancy of Downtown Yangon, Bahrain Myanmar Advisor: Clara Irazabal Anne Terry Krassner & Natalie Quinn Planning Research Design Award Measuring Domestic Capabilities For a thesis that exemplifies in Shanghai’s High-Tech a commitment to research Industries methodology and/or planning Peter Insuk Chung techniques. Peter Chung Negotiating Global and Living Globally: exploring the Local Interests in Medellin’s need for foreign enclaves in Environmental Megaprojects Shanghai Cody Ellis Calvin & Shraddha Advisor: Stacey Sutton Ramani Peer to Peer Award The Spring of Hope School: This award is given in Fostering Education in Rural recognition of outstanding Cambodia service to classmates, faculty, Gillian Sollenberger and school. Amy Yang
Studios This spring, the UP program offered seven studios including three international studios. While each project differed in scope and methodology, one unifying factor was that each studio was place-based, requiring students to create proposals with the respective community and geography in mind. The full reports can be read online.
Tappan Zee Bridge: Promoting Transit Options
Gowanus Bay Terminal: Planning Red Hook’s Resilient Industrial Ecosystem
The mission of this studio, under instructor Floyd Lapp, was to provide land use, transit, and financing recommendations to Rockland and Westchester Counties for the Tappan Zee Bridge and I-287 corridor. As of now, a series of bus rapid transit (“BRT”) proposals are slated to be implemented along the corridor by 2018. The studio analyzed commuting patterns and relevant demographics in the I-287 corridor, then provided an in-depth analysis of the suitability of BRT stations that the MTTF proposed, using an outcomes matrix that assembled a variety of transportation, land use, and demographic criteria. Finally, they explored additional measures of upgrading existing bus routes, congestion pricing, variable tolling, and transportation demand management that may offer alternative promise in reducing congestion along the greater I-287 corridor rather than a full BRT implementation.
The Gowanus Bay Terminal (GBX), a multi-user industrial site, sits on Red Hook’s waterfront in Brooklyn, New York. It is home to the retired Port Authority Grain Terminal built in 1922, the retired Ellis Island Ferryboat Yankee, and the soon to be retired cement bulk carrier Loujaine. With instructor Michael Fishman, the studio explored resilient industrial expansion within the context of the opportunities and challenges facing the Red Hook community. Based on the issues, they recommended the following site programming to enhance both the private and the public components of GBX: expand the park space, land and retrofit the Loujaine to provide a community programming space, expand the industrial site to include pre-cast concrete production, enhance the local ecology, promote resiliency, and educate the public through green infrastructure and programming.
Tokyo Moynihan Station
East Harlem
Tappan Zee Bridge
Rio das Pedras
East Port-of-Spain
Redhook Sustainable Development and the Tokyo studio came up with Mobility of East Port-of-Spain recommendations that address The students of Clara Irazábal’s studio created a plan for sustainable development in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in conjunction with the Ministry of Planning. The project evaluated the context of and community support for three major physical interventions proposed for the city: river revitalization through parks, an aerial cable car transit system, and preservation of cultural heritage, which together aim to improve the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of Port of Spain. The three projects are to be implemented in East Port of Spain, a disenfranchised but culturally rich area of the city characterized by informal settlement in the mountainous city margins.
Tokyo: Reimaging Aoyama Street The Tokyo studio, instructed by Naka Matsumoto, was tasked in developing recommendations for Tokyo-based real estate corporation Hulic Co., Ltd. on the future identity of Tokyo’s Aoyama Street. The developers see Aoyama as a microcosm for future development of Tokyo. Taking the issues of Japan’s aging population, the 2020 Olympics, occurrence of natural disasters, the client’s interest, and the overall well-being of the Japanese public,
these three main issues, along with the needs of the client and the Japanese public.
Moynihan Station: Planning for a New Midtown Destination The James A. Farley post office building, also known as the future Moynihan Station, was built in 1912 and formed a scenic boulevard echoing Pennsylvania Station. This former post office will be retrofitted into a world class train station and a new destination in Midtown West. Under the instruction of Gary Roth, this studio was tasked with solving a number of challenges presented by the Moynihan Station redevelopment project, specifically creating a programming plan for the one million square feet of space unused by the future train station plan.
Rio das Pedras: Urban Upgrading in Rio de Janiero Rio das Pedras is one of over 1,000 favelas, or informal settlements, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With Studio X and the Mayor’s office as the client, the students in Alejandro de Castro Mazarro and Marcela Tovar’s studio provided a ‘toolbox’ of potential interventions which capitalize on the assets and ameliorate some challenges
that face the community of Rio das Pedras. This assessment acts as a guidance tool to analyze proposals and work put forth by the community and the Rio das Pedras initiative, to create a longterm, informed dialogue about the direction of the community. Ultimately this work is intended to re-frame the perception of Rio das Pedras, and the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, as legitimate, vital and positive elements of the entire city’s fabric and vitality.
The Future of Public Housing in New York City: An Analysis of Infill Development in Washington Houses in East Harlem Last year, the New York City Housing Authority released a proposal to create market rate housing at both Washington Houses and Carver Houses in East Harlem by leasing specific sites to private developers. The students in Ethel Sheffer’s studio recommended alternatives to NYCHA’s infill development proposal that reflect the Community Board’s vision for East Harlem, promote an appropriate mix of affordable and market rate housing, and improve the existing quality of life for the residents of Washington and Carver Houses. They proposed new zoning conditions, defined residential building specifications, imagined new grade-level uses, and designed creative public spaces within the two sites.
Faculty News GSAPP Latin Lab Director Clara Irazábal was invited to deliver talks this spring at the College of Design at Iowa State University (ISU); Laventille Community Complex, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; New York University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) and the Latino Studies Program; the Department of Geography and Planning at University of Toronto, Canada; Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy; Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain; and the United Nations, New York. The planning studio she taught on Sustainable Development and Mobility of East Port of Spain, Trinidad presented their work at a symposium in Port of Spain (Laventille, Trinidad, March 25th, 2014); the 13th Annual Latin American & Caribbean Graduate Student Conference (Stony Brook, New York, April 25th, 2014); and the 4th Annual Caribbean Urban Forum 2014 (Bridgetown, Barbados. May 14-16, 2014).
In January, Professor Bob Beauregard conducted a policy analysis workshop at the Centre for Metropolitan Studies, Technical University (Berlin) and in February gave a lecture titled "Planning in an Obdurate World" at the School of Architecture and Planning, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. In April, he was a resident fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Centre in Italy where his project was a book titled Why Cities Endure. In May, he moderated a panel at GSAPP at the Figure of Democracy: Houses, Housing, and Polis conference and spoke on "Shrinking Cities and the Politics of Things" at the "Learning from Detroit" conference at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In June, he spoke on "The New Materialism" at Kadir Haas University in Istanbul. His most recent publication, coauthored with Laura Lieto from Federico II University (Naples) was "Planning for a Material World" in CRIOS 6:6-20.
Adjunct faculty member Andrea Kahn had two grant applications successfully funded in collaboration with Scandinavian research colleagues: 1. “Beyond Best Practice in the Oresund Harbour Landscape”, with Gunilla Lindholm and Lisa Diedrich, Swedish Landscape University, Alnarp 2. Pre-project Grant, “Site Specific Design as Development Model for Harbour Areas”, with Gunilla Lindholm and Lisa Diedrich SLU Alnarp, Henrik Reeh, Kopenhagen University and Peter Hemmersam and Elisabeth Ulrika Sjødahl, Oslo Architecture and Design School. She also moderated a session “Nyhmanen Values and Visions: Stakeholders Workshop” at FUSE Collab-Caselab in May; served as a panelist and respondent to FUSE Oresund Lecture, “We Need Experiments” by Thomas Seiverts in Malmo, Denmark; and served as an expert advisor to the Interreg Malmo and Copenhagen Harbour Workshops. In March, she spent time at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, in the capacity of External Advisor on thesis reviews.
Professor David King co-authored an oped published in the Washington Post about troubling recent transit ridership data and the need for US transport policy to focus on our core issue: the cost of driving is too cheap. His co-authors included Michael Smart of Rutgers and Michael Manville of Cornell. Professor Stacey Sutton’s article “Beyond Safe and Clean, Are BIDs Good for Business? The Impact of BIDs on Neighborhood Retailers in New York City” will be published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research this fall. Adjunct Professor David Smiley had several publications this year: a book Pedestrian Modern: Shopping and American Architecture, 1925-1956 and book review of “Governing by Design: Architecture, Economy and Politics in the Twentieth Century, by Aggregate Group,” in the Journal of Architecture 18:6. He also served as the chair and session respondent for “The Aesthetic Infrastructure of Suburbia,” at the Society for American City & Regional Planning History Conference in Toronto.
Student News
Eric (far left) and Anna (far right) at the competition in May ● The Peter DeBaun house and land.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development held the inaugural Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition this spring. Two Urban Planning students, Eric Blair-Joannou and Anna Oursler were members of the Columbia University/New York University team selected as runner up. Ohio State University comprised the winning team. The basis of the competition was to design and redevelop a 1770’s structure in Bergen County, New Jersey into a stable housing community for homeless veterans. The site, known as the Peter DeBaun House, witnessed multiple skiffs during the Revolutionary War though managed to survive the conflict and remain in the DeBaun family for 98 years. After various ownership transfers, the American Legion Post 269 of Emerson, NJ bought the house in the 1970’s, using the building as meeting facilities until 2012, when members chose
to sell the house. Currently on the market, the pre-colonial home and the 1.62 acres of land on which it sits are threatened by lack of legal protection. The potential for restoration and revitalization is great, as the site is 45 minutes from Manhattan. located amidst a natural setting, and retains much of its original building fabric. The teams addressed the issues of effectively preserving a historic structure, creating affordable housing, and addressing needs of the homeless. The plans also dealt with practical issues of zoning regulations and financing opportunities. The teams were encouraged to be multi-disciplinary and utilize design, planning, and finance into their proposals. Both Eric and Anna are pursuing dual degrees, in business and architecture, respectively. The Columbia-NYU team received an award of $5,000. Congratulations to Eric and Anna and great thanks for representing the UP program.
Pictured at left, Adjunct Professor Marcela Tovar and first-year student Chang Liu participated in the United Nations Economic and Social Council Integration Segment this May, where Professor Clara Irazabal was also a speaker in the panel, “Effective Governance, Policy-Making and Planning for Sustainable Urbanization.”
The students in Stacey Sutton’s Planning for Retail course this semester completed “Avenue A Retail Analysis,” a project for Community Board 3. The Economic Development Committee of Community Board 3 extended a significant endorsement for the research and report, along with thorough appreciation for the program’s community involvement.
Alumni Spotlight: Jacob Press Jacob Press graduated from the Urban Planning program in 2006 and currently works as Legal Counsel at Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C.
You pursued your J.D. directly after graduating from the Urban Planning program. What motivated this decision, and what were some of the challenges you faced in continuing your education?
helps them draft their proposals. Agency law is somewhat unique because federal agencies are huge, complicated animals, but working on a variety of programmatic initiatives has given me a good perspective on the nation’s housing policy.
When I applied to the urban planning program, I’d been on the fence between getting a masters and going to law school. Sometime during my second semester, I attended a community board hearing in Flushing related to our studio where a lawyer, speaking on behalf of a developer, gave a presentation and allowed me to see how lawyers take part in the planning process. This didn’t necessarily make me want to represent developers, but I did learn how the law is such a central tool for effecting change in neighborhoods and communities. I applied to law school during my second year at Columbia and ended up going to Fordham, which has a great public interest law program. While swallowing another three years of school was a little tough, it was such a different experience from planning school that it didn’t feel like a continuation. In hindsight, I don’t think I’d have survived my first year of law school without having my friends from planning school to keep me grounded. Seeing what they were doing while working in government, the design world and the non-profit sector allowed me to keep sight of why I’d gone to law school in the first place, which was to help shape cities.
I’ve gotten to use my planning degree in a number of ways, but, perhaps most importantly, it’s given me the perspective to better understand my clients here at HUD. Many of the people I work with on the non-legal side have planning backgrounds, and while the federal government doesn’t explicitly deal with local issues like zoning and design, a planner’s way of thinking about the built environment definitely affects how our programs are developed. Most of the lawyers I work with are here because they’re interested in housing or because they love cities, but I definitely get some extra credibility with my clients when I mention that I have a planning degree.
Tell us a little more about the responsibilities you have in your current position. How has your planning background proved most valuable? I currently work for HUD’s Office of General Counsel in the division that handles legislation and regulations. Our office assists each of the program offices within HUD as they shape their legislative and regulatory priorities and then
More specifically, my planning education prepared me very well for the post-Sandy disaster work I did for the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force last year. While at Columbia, I had done a small studio about disaster preparedness with three other students for Ethel Sheffer that served me in good stead and gave me a great deal of familiarity with the region and its emergency management strategies. What advice do you have for students interested in the legal side of planning? How can they prepare best for this career while at GSAPP? For students interested in working with the zoning code and the public approval process, a law degree is by no means a prerequisite. It’s amazing how much work assigned specifically to lawyers can be accomplished by nonlawyers who are willing to get their hands
dirty digging into statutes and regulations. I would definitely recommend making the most of Columbia’s Planning Law course and using the opportunity to engage with legal materials with the help of an instructor. That said, case law, which is the focus of Planning Law, is only a small part of what governs the built environment. Learning the ULURP process in New York City or its local equivalent in other jurisdictions is another way to become familiar with primary legal texts. For those who will eventually have to work with counsel in their future jobs, which is just about everyone who deals with the development process, having just a rudimentary legal background will make you a much more productive client and help you get legal clearances more quickly. Perhaps more importantly, a little familiarity with the law will make lawyers seem less inscrutable and potential legal hurdles seem less intimidating. What is one of the most unforgettable experiences you had while at GSAPP? I had lots of great experiences in Avery and think back fondly on all the time spent on and around campus, but like many planning students, I think my most unforgettable experience took place on my Kinne trip to China. We had a great guide in fellow planning student Dayu Zhang, who showed us the best places to eat and what neighborhoods to explore. Perhaps more importantly, he helped us negotiate with an unscrupulous for-hire tour bus operator that was supposed to take us to the Great Wall but instead held us hostage in the parking lot of a suburban tourist shopping mall until we agreed to buy a sufficient number of tchotchkes (we finally made it to the Great Wall tchotchke-free thanks to Dayu). But what was most interesting on the trip was to see how seriously the planning profession is taken in China, a nation whose exponential urban growth necessitates responsive, overarching solutions. We traveled in 2006, just a year and a half before the 2008 Olympics, and it was striking to see how much good - new subway lines, attempts at pollution control - and bad - destruction of the city’s traditional hutong neighborhoods could result from a massive, top-down planning effort. It was definitely eye-opening and helped me appreciate how radical the process of urbanization can be.
Alumni Speed Networking
Amy Boyle ’08 and Tatiana Pena ’07 discuss their careers in affordable housing with a group of second-year students.
The Urban Planning program hosted the second annual alumni speed networking event in February. A group of 16 alumni participated, ranging from members of the Class of 1982 to the Class of 2012. Pairs of alumni were stationed at tables and throughout the evening while groups of students rotated between tables for fifteen minute intervals. The event has been a successful networking opportunity for students and a chance for alumni to reconnect with the program. If you are interested in participating next year, please email Charlotte Egerton, cce2119@columbia.edu.
Stay Connected! Have updates or accomplishments to share with the UP community? Send them to Charlotte Egerton (cce2119@columbia.edu) for publication in the next newsletter. Subscribe to the GSAPP Urban Planning Weekly Newsletter Join our LinkedIn group: Columbia University Urban Planners
National Planning Conference Clockwise from top: Assistant Director Trisha Logan and student attendees at the CNN studios; a group of alumni at the GSAPP Alumni cocktail reception; Candy Chang delivers the closing keynote.
The 2014 National Planning Conference, held by the American Planning Association, brought 5,000 planners to Atlanta, Georgia. Among them were twenty-two students, several faculty, many alumni representing Columbia’s planning program. Conference highlights included tours of the fourth ward and Auburn Avenue historic districts, home to the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. and sites of the Civil Rights Movement, and visits to Transit Oriented Development sites in Midtown Atlanta. The GSAPP crew also toured CNN studios and enjoyed a cocktail reception hosted by the GSAPP Alumni Office. Columbia Urban Planning graduate Candy Chang delivered the inspirational closing keynote. Chang discussed the role of public art in fostering community, detailing a few of her projects in New York and New Orleans, where she currently lives. Next spring, the conference will take us to Seattle.