URBAN v.10 is.1 - The Tipping Point by Columbia GSAPP

URBAN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S URBAN PLANNING MAGAZINE

FALL 2006

VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1

THE TIPPING POINT URBAN

RIBBON CUTTING

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

his issue of URBAN examines topics in

program, this edition includes descriptions of

planning through the lens of their respective

the studio projects completed by fellow students

locations

widespread

this past year, biographies of current students,

acceptance. By reviewing ideas and innovations

and ideas generated by faculty on the theme of

that fall along the entire spectrum of possibilities

the Tipping Point. Also, we are excited to present

(some already past their tipping points, some

the results of the Master of our Visual Universe

nowhere near) we hope to generate thought and

competition in the form of student photography

discussion about the myriad of ways to catalyze

sprinkled throughout the magazine.

the

path

progress from idea to reality. Likewise, we hope

Finally, we are proud to announce the launch

that this edition will inspire you to think about

of URBAN magazine’s new and improved website:

the role that you can play in advancing causes in

http://www.urban.columbia.edu/magazine. This

the planning community.

venture will enable users to access articles that

In addition to discourse tied to the theme

have been published over the course of URBAN’s

of the Tipping Point, authors delve into topics

history and search the database by edition,

such as New York City’s long-term sustainability

author, and topic.

plan and the effects that war can have on the

We want to thank everyone who has

urban environment. These articles highlight the

contributed to the progression of this publication.

implications of such temporal events for planning

We are honored to have had the opportunity to

and urban life more broadly.

serve as the editors of URBAN this past year and

Continuing our efforts to reﬂect the breadth of work being done at Columbia’s Urban Planning

look forward to seeing how the magazine will develop in the years ahead. — Amy, Clare, and Candy

BACKSTAGE EDITORS

PHOTO CONTRIBUTORS

Amy Boyle

Rich Barone, Kay Cheng,

Clare Newman

Cate Corley, Lana Daher,

ART DIRECTOR Candy Chang

Serena Deng, JP Flaherty, Rachael Gray Shipkin, Seth Hostetter, Lily Langlois, Matt Leavell, Summer Lee, Christie Marcella, Heather Roiter, Karin Sommer, Jezra Thompson, Alejandro Triana, Dayu Zhang

URBAN

Megaprojects

ADDITIONAL HELP

CONTACT

Marc Blayer, Kay Cheng, Rob

URBAN Magazine

Cunningham, Reuel Daniels,

413 Avery Hall, GSAPP

Serena Deng, Myriam Figueroa,

Urban Planning Program

Leigh Harvey, Anna Kleppert,

1172 Amsterdam Avenue

Matt Leavell, Alex Maisuradze,

Columbia University

Leah M Meisterlin, Minna

New York, NY 10027

Ninova, Rachael Gray Shipkin, Karin Sommer, Jezra Thompson

urban.magazine@gmail.com www.urban.columbia.edu/magazine

Photo by Rachael Gray Shipkin

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

WHAT’S INSIDE GENERALLY SPEAKING 2

WELCOME PARTY

STUDIO CLUB

BEIRUT

New Faculty

Second-Year Students

Michelle Tabet

A MONUMENTAL STORY

(WEB)SITE PLANNING

THE FAMILY

Karin Sommer

Jezra Thompson

THE TIPPING POINT 14

INTRODUCTION

A NEW NEW YORK

(GRAD)SCHOOLHOUSE RHETORIC

NO ORDINARY TRAFFIC

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS

Editors

Matthew Roe

Minna Ninova

Matthew Crosby

Anna Kleppert

SAY IT LOUD...YOU’RE A PLANNER AND DAMN PROUD!! Alejandro Triana

AWOL

THE BIG GREEN APPLE

CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG

ROCK THE BOAT

Amy Boyle

Ben Harwood

Matt Leavell

Faculty

First- and Second-Year Students

Generally Speaking

URBAN

WELCOME PARTY

Get To Know The Newly Hired Urban Planning Faculty Over the summer, the Urban Planning program welcomed three new faculty members to our family: Bob Beauregard, Smita Srinivas, and Stacey Sutton. Here is what URBAN found out about their lives prior to Columbia, their ambitions for their work at Columbia, and a few other tidbits!

BOB BEAUREGARD

study of technological change, urbanization, and industrial

Robert Beauregard joins the faculty as Professor of Urban

work in India, drawing on comparisons with Brazil and South

Planning. He previously taught at The New School, University

Africa. She remains involved in both writing and advising on

of Pittsburgh, and Rutgers University and has been a visiting

institutional and technical change in the health sector. She has

professor at UCLA, University of Iowa, the University of Helsinki,

been active on economic development research in Finland as

and the Helsinki University of Technology. Beauregard earned

part of a broader interest in the diversity of European models

his PhD in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University

of public welfare.

and also has a degree in Architecture.

Srinivas has over twelve years of professional experience

Over his career, Beauregard has written mainly on urban

with various aspects of economic development, social and health

development and redevelopment, urban economic development,

policy, and has worked with various international, national,

and planning theory. He is the author of over 40 peer-reviewed

and grass-roots organizations. These include, among others,

journal articles and 30 book chapters. Of these publications,

the United Nations, the International Labour Organization,

the most recent include writings on downtown housing, the

WIEGO, SEWA, the Aga Khan Foundation, and recently, the

redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, narratives of

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. At Columbia, she will be

development, and urban design. His most recent books are

teaching two classes: one on international economic development

When America Became Suburban (2006), a revised edition of

with a focus on industrialization, the other on social policy and

Voices of Decline: The Postwar Fate of US Cities (2003, orig.

health planning. Other topics of interest include institutional

1993), and the co-edited Emerging Johannesburg: Perspectives

theories in political economy, theories of markets, emergent

on the Post-apartheid City (2003).

versus planned phenomena, the economics of technical change, evolutionary economics, and frameworks of values, identity, and reciprocity.

SMITA SRINIVAS

In 2005-2006, she authored numerous journal articles and

Smita Srinivas is Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at

book chapters. She is the primary author and co-author of two

Columbia University and Director of the Technological Change

books published by the International Labour Organization (ILO):

and Urban Social Policy (TCUSP) research unit. Her area of

Learning from Experience: A Gendered Approach to Social

work is economic development, with a focus on the social and

Protection for Workers in the Informal Economy and Women

labor institutions embedded in industrial and technological

Organizing for Social Protection – The Self-employed Women’s

change. A recurrent theme through her research is the shifting

Association’s Integrated Insurance Scheme, India. The former

regulation of industrial welfare. Her current research is a

was dubbed “a best-seller” by the ILO.

URBAN

Generally Speaking

Srinivas holds a PhD in Economic Development and Technology Planning (MIT), a Certiﬁcat d’etudes Internationales (Economics section, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva), and an MS in Physics (Yale University). FAVORITE FOOD: Saru anna (rice and a Bangalorean dal), but

others come close (dosas, any Indian dessert, fondue, risotto). FAVORITE BOOK: The Mahabharatha and Gandhi’s My Experiments

with Truth. FAVORITE MOVIE: Doesn’t have one, likes too many. FAVORITE SONG: Anything that makes her cry or want to dance,

occasionally both: old Hindi movie songs, U2, Frances Cabral, bhangra/pop. FAVORITE CITY: Bangalore wins, but Mysore is a close second, and

maybe New York!

STACEY SUTTON Stacey Sutton is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at GSAPP and the Director of the Community and Capital Action Research Lab (C2ARL) located at Columbia. The C2ARL is intended as a space for conducting research and engaging in discourse related to the direction, magnitude, and rate of neighborhood or community change. Areas of particular interest include local economic development, contested and complimentary neighborhood visions, urban enclaves, equitable development, community beneﬁt agreements, neighborhood entrepreneurship, and the merchant associations. Sutton’s early experience was in the private sector working

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

for a pharmaceutical interest and a management consulting firm. Since 1999, Sutton has worked as a Research Associate

CHINESE NEW YEAR DRAGON DANCE

with the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change where she focuses on questions of racial equity and community building and has designed an Aspen leadership seminar

BY ALEJANDRO TRIANA

entitled “Racial Equity and Society.” Additionally, Sutton co-authored Aspen’s Structural Racism and Community Building book which has been distributed widely and used by Aspen when communicating to community leaders about the complex social dynamics underpinning embedded inequality

of local entrepreneurship and community development and

and used as a basis for developing strategies for redressing

examine issues such as: the structure and function of small

persistent disparity.

business associations; community benefit agreements and

Prior to joining Columbia, Sutton was the Marnold Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at NYU Wagner. She taught “Neighborhood

the voice of local merchants; and the potential for small business incubators.

Change, Planning and Policy” and “History and Theory of

Sutton earned a joint PhD in Urban Planning and Sociology

Planning” while completing her dissertation, which examines the

from Rutgers University and a MBA from New York University

process of revitalization in Fort Greene, Brooklyn (1950-2004),

where she focused on Economics and Organizational Behavior.

speciﬁcally agency of minority neighborhood merchants in the change process. Sutton’s primary areas of research include: community

FAVORITE FOOD: Trinidadian (West Indian) FAVORITE BOOK:

Modernity and the Holocaust, Zygmunt

economic development; neighborhood change; minority

Bauman

entrepreneurship; race as a feature of socio-spatial vision

FAVORITE MOVIE: Dogville, Lars Von Trier

and structure; and labor market stratification. Sutton expects

FAVORITE SONG: Baltimore, Nina Simone

to build on her previous research and experience in the areas

FAVORITE CITY: Philadelphia, PA

●

Generally Speaking

URBAN

Image from Universal Home Video. Idea and doctoring by Serena Deng, Mike Atkins, and Anna Kleppert

THE STUDIO CLUB It Changed Their Lives Forever

Spring Studios are a right of passage for first-year students at GSAPP, a chance to put hard-earned planning skills, theories, and jargon to work. Each studio had its distinct personality and, like the 1980s classic film we know and love, learned precious life lessons along the way. The following are brief summaries of the objectives and results of this first “real” planning exercise for the class of 2007. Before the semester was over, they broke the rules, bared their souls, and touched each other in a way they never dreamed possible.

URBAN

Generally Speaking

NAIROBI STUDIO Monica Bansal, Alyssa Boyer, Candy Chang, Kay Cheng, Leticia Crispin, Reuel Daniels, Jen Graeff, Beth Helton, Lily Langlois, Eleanne van Vliet, Ryan Walsh

A group of ten planning students and one public health student journeyed to Kenya in February 2006 to investigate the regional planning challenges of Ruiru, a satellite town 15 miles from Nairobi. One of the fastest growing areas in the world, Nairobi is experiencing explosive urban growth pushing outward into predominantly agricultural land. This combination has led to

speed public transit. Building upon these assets, the Israel studio developed a strategic development plan that provides models for both speciﬁc site plans and long-term development. Overall, the Strategic Development plan signiﬁcantly increases residential and retail space in Bat Yam, with an emphasis on both housing options and architectural variety. In addition, the plan aims to increase revenue to the City, which can then be used for services such as education, open space, and the renewal of older residential buildings.

With time, the Strategic Development

Plan will help to create a strong economic base for Bat Yam and transform the City into a beautiful seaside community.

peri-urban areas such as Ruiru, where rural land is overtaken by unplanned and often informal development, basic infrastructure is inadequate, and administrative roles are unclear. Ruiru is often

BRIDGEPORT STUDIO

referred to as a dormitory city because many residents work in

Isaac Abid, Amy Boyle, Yannis Evmolpidis, JP Flaherty,

Nairobi. While adjacent to a relatively resource-rich city, Ruiru

Clare Newman, Ji Sun Park, Tatiana Pena, Tony Tolentino,

has been unable to fully capitalize on its own resources due to

Alejandro Triana

limited ﬁnancial and administrative capacity. Asked by the Municipal Council of Ruiru to develop

The Bridgeport studio was asked by its client, the Bridgeport

recommendations on future planning, the studio carried

Housing Authority, to study how to feasibly develop 46 units

out stakeholder interviews, household surveys, ﬁeldwork,

of public housing on a 12-acre site in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

air quality tests, literature reviews, land use scenarios, and collaborative efforts with urban planning students at the University of Nairobi. Through this work, they developed a series of recommendations to improve economic development, land use, health and environment, transportation infrastructure, and planning administration that would help Ruiru increase its capacity to serve its residents, as well as the greater area. With most of today’s growth occurring in peri-urban areas, the story of Ruiru is emblematic of other small municipalities and crucial in understanding how to better plan in an ever urbanizing world.

BAT YAM STUDIO Irene Avetyan, Cate Corley, Seth Hostetter, Summer Lee, Photo by Summer Lee

Kate Sargent, Rachael Gray Shipkin, Karin Sommer

A small city in the Tel Aviv District, Bat Yam is located on the Mediterranean Coast of Israel. Historically a seaside residential town and tourist attraction, in recent years the City has suffered from a deteriorating and inadequate housing stock, insufficient commercial investment, an underutilized industrial area, an aging population, and a poor image in the District. The Israel studio was asked by the city government of Bat Yam to develop a plan that would address these issues. After traveling to Israel in January, 2006 to meet with government officials, academics, and professionals familiar with the planning process of Bat Yam, the studio began its work. The studio identified Bat Yam’s existing major assets, such as a beautiful and virtually untouched coast, a tight-knit community and strong heritage, and a planned Light Rapid Transit (LRT) that will connect Bat Yam to the greater Tel Aviv District via high-

Photo by Christie Marcella

ON THE JET SET Top: The Bat Yam skyline bursts with ﬂavor. Bottom: The Nairobi studio students enjoy food and Tusker, the local beer, after a hard dayʼs work.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

The studio sought to meet its client’s needs while avoiding the mistakes which have historically led to the failure of many public housing projects nationwide. The studio developed design guidelines and then explored many potential site plans which ﬁt within the guidelines. Each of these visions included a mixture of public, affordable, and market-rate housing, as well as commercial and community space. Recognizing that meeting the client’s request to redevelop the site was only a portion of the task the students had assigned themselves in their established goals, the studio expanded the scope of its project to incorporate ideas that would connect the site to the surrounding community. It also explored ways to use the site’s redevelopment as a catalyst for the revitalization of Bridgeport as a whole. The studio concluded by analyzing the factors which limited the students’ ability to achieve the studio’s project goals, including physical and programmatic barriers to development. In response to these barriers, the studio considered opportunities to remove these obstacles, including changes in local and federal policy.

HOLDING DOWN THE FORT

Photo by Dayu Zhang

Bottom left: People live on stilts in the Rockaway Peninsula! Above: The South Bronx studio students strike a pose in the borough with the mostest.

build line along the coast, improved community communication, more robust infrastructure, and a multimodal evacuation system. These recommendations were presented to local community leaders, who may work to implement these ideas as a means

ROCKAWAY STUDIO

to create a more sustainable and resilient community on the

Rich Barone, Virginia Cava, T Chivore, Jr., Rob Cunningham,

Rockaway Peninsula.

Will Gallin, Angie Huh, Matt Leavell, Deepa Mehta, Peri Platanias, Heather Roiter

Did you know that New York City is the third most susceptible US city to a major hurricane disaster? Despite this fact, the

SOUTH BRONX STUDIO Mike Atkins, Esther Brunner, Serena Deng, Jennifer Jacobs Guzmán, Jin Jo, Anna Kleppert, Joe Moreno, Marnie Purciel

City of New York is just now creating a comprehensive plan for emergency response in the area. The Rockaway studio sought to

The South Bronx Ecological Infrastructure Studio’s client,

assist this effort, focusing on an area of the City that is particularly

Sustainable South Bronx, is a nonproﬁt organization dedicated to

susceptible to ﬂooding - the Rockaway Peninsula.

making environmental and economic sustainability politically

This studio created a comprehensive list of issues that need

and financially feasible in the South Bronx. Its goals provided

to be addressed in any emergency plan: evacuation and return of

the Ecological Infrastructure Studio with the inspiration to

the population in the event of an emergency, preparedness and

think creatively about New York City’s environmental and

communication, building codes, community education, land-use

economic future.

planning and zoning, and improved infrastructure. The studio

The studio addressed the needs of its client by focusing on

made recommendations focused on zoning, a more stringent no-

the desired policy changes that lie at the core of Sustainable South Bronx’s mission. Taking an optimistic and pragmatic approach, the studio endeavored to ﬁnd politically-viable ways to meet the client’s policy goals. The students researched existing city policies addressing energy, economic development, waste, green-building design, job creation, industrial retention, sewer systems, and street design. Then the students honed their technical understandings of these topics in order to propose informed changes that could be made at the neighborhood and city level. These proposed changes ranged from physically altering street layouts to creating a new Ecological Industrial Improvement District in Hunts Point. The client intends to push to make some of the studio’s suggestions and plans a reality in

Photo by Matt Leavell

URBAN

Generally Speaking

the near future. ●

BEIRUT A Siege Under A City

BY MICHELLE TABET

nyone who has visited Beirut in recent years will tell

of Lebanon is virtually cut off from the rest of the world as

you that the city has been striving to recover its past

a result of major damage to infrastructure installations.

grandeur, a status lost during the deadly years of

But how does the war affect Beirut as a city? How are its

the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). Until this summer, a

operations disrupted? In this wartime situation, the City takes

proliferation of restaurants, bars, beach resorts, and hotels

on a number of sometime contradictory functions. It becomes

embodied the progress the Lebanese had made in restoring

a target, from a military point of view, but also a shelter

Beirut’s appeal as a tourist destination. This progress was also

for the displaced from the south; it becomes the symbol of

visible through huge reconstruction efforts in the downtown

national unity, but also that of the country’s fragmentation;

area, where banks, international headquarters, embassies, and

and it becomes a treasure for the Lebanese but not one worth

government institutions had once again found their place in

defending with arms.

the city’s historic center.

The ﬁrst emotion that ﬂoods the City is fear. It only takes

12 July 2006: following the kidnapping of two Israeli

one explosion for every single soul in Beirut to realize that peace

soldiers on the southern border of Lebanon, a retaliatory air

has disappeared in the blink of an eye. But Beirut is a survivor;

strike is launched by Israel. Within three days, the country

its urban population has made it through 25 years of civil strife.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

Photo by Lana Daher

THE AFTERMATH Dahieh el Janoubieh after the air raids

Perhaps because everyone knows the story of war a bit too well,

being in Dahieh, Beirut’s infamous southern suburb. Dahieh

fear is not panic in Beirut. Fear is resilience and perseverance.

is actually the fruit of non-existant planning and chaotic urban

The Beirutis live with the strong belief that they have already

sprawl which links the city center and the airport. The suburb’s

lived through the worst.

only claim to fame is playing host to Hezbollah headquarters and

This attitude explains the somewhat cynical optimism

the media company Al Manar. However, since 12 July, Dahieh is

which prevails in the City. No one is sure whether they are hoping for the same outcome—every taxicab, every falafel vendor has the answer to the crisis. The City becomes an oversized, polluted

The thriving nightlife, once the Cityʼs new-found asset, is gone: the trendy bars, jazz cafes, and clubs remain shut, like ghosts from a time to which many people would like to close their eyes and return.

boudoir where everyone speculates about the forthcoming events because, in any case, there is nothing

the center of all attention. In the depths of Dahieh’s underground

better to do. The air raids have put a damper on all businesses.

network of tunnels and bunkers hides Israel’s Public Enemy

Within three days, Beirut is brought to a complete standstill, as

Number One, Hasan Nasrallah. The media speculates about his

if time had slowed down. The thriving nightlife, once the City’s

actual geographic location. Some mention Iran or Syria, but the

new-found asset, is gone: the trendy bars, jazz cafes, and clubs

result is the same: he could be there holding a siege under the

remain shut, like ghosts from a time to which so many people

City, holding a siege under Beirut.

would like to close their eyes and return.

Whereas some people perceive the City as a danger zone and

Mobility in, out, and around the City is also greatly reduced.

ﬂee to their luxury condos in mountain resorts, the less fortunate

Being on a road, a bridge, or in a tunnel is as dangerous as

come to Beirut. The capital is much safer to them than the heavily

URBAN

Generally Speaking

Photo by Lana Daher

WHERE TO BEGIN Dahieh el Janoubieh after the air raids

bombed South. A river of displaced people pours in a continuous

crying for a visa to leave the country. But embassies are also

ﬂow into Beirut’s city limits. They have come because they no longer

powerless in the face of war...

have anything to lose: no house, no car, no farm. That is all rubble now. Beirut, as the seat of government, is where the answers are.

Whatever power now exists is found in the collective actions of individuals. If there is one beautiful aspect in this war, it has

A lot of these people have never been to the City before.

to be the emergence of a nationwide solidarity. Here, in a country

Some of them even thought they would need their donkey

with virtually no social provision by the state, the individuals

there... or was that all they had left? Living conditions for the

step in to organize war relief. Of course, large charities such as

displaced deteriorate by the hour. More mothers, more children,

Caritas and the Red Cross help a great deal, but they are always

more elderly, and more sick people keep arriving at the primary

present in conﬂict zones across the world. The novelty in this war

schools, universities, and hospitals that have been made available

is the mobilization among the Lebanese, the people who want to

for them in these extraordinary circumstances. But life goes on:

do something for their country. Spontaneous Non-Governmental

the village scenes take place in the Sanayeh public gardens in

Organizations spring up like mushrooms, and as donations ﬂow

the center of the City instead of Bint Jbeil and other destroyed

in their responsibilities grow and expand into those typically

localities in the southern part of the Cedar country.

served by the public sector.

Parallel to this great ﬂow of people into the capital city,

Meanwhile, back in the homes, images of neighboring

embassies organize massive departures from the port bound

areas ravaged by the bombing captivate the TV audiences.

for Cyprus. A magic phone call in the middle of the night is the

Every channel has turned into CNN. And in the background,

way out. But only those who happen to have dual citizenship

the ﬂames, the smoke, the ﬂashes, the sirens, the airplanes, the

are allowed to get on the fancy cruise-ships, battleships, and

drones, the explosions...What was that story again? Oh yes, a

helicopters. The others line up at the embassies, pleading and

siege under Beirut. ●

Generally Speaking

URBAN

A MONUMENTAL LOOKING GOOD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD The excitement of a new era has returned to Minneapolis. From left to right: the original Guthrie Theatre, the new Guthrie Theatre, and the Minneapolis Central Library

Photo by Terry Garvey, Minnesota Historical Society

n the early 1970s, an excited Mary

Minneapolis Institute of Arts building was unveiled in 1974.

Tyler Moore tossed her hat in the

Such buildings, combined with Ralph Rapson’s critically

air in downtown Minneapolis. This

acclaimed Guthrie Theatre, which opened in 1963, enriched

image from the opening credits of the

and, to some extent, dominated the

Mary Tyler Moore Show, symbolizing

landscape of Minneapolis for years

the character’s excitement for a new

to come.

beginning in life, came to represent a new

However, what had seemed so

era for Minneapolis. Fresh off decades

hopeful in the early 1970s fell prey to

of urban renewal that had destroyed

suburbanization and the subsequent

many buildings and neighborhoods, the

move of upper and middle-classes

early 1970s were a time of building and growth in Minneapolis.

out of the City. The promise of the

Evidence of this is found in the building Moore stands in front of

architectural revival was lost during the

when she tosses her hat: the IDS Tower. A sleek, glass building

1980s and early 1990s to an emptying

that was completed in 1974, the IDS Tower was the tallest

and decaying city center. Though

structure in the City and helped to transform Minneapolis by

a strong art scene still remained in

attracting national and international attention.1

Minneapolis throughout this time, little

deviantart.com

The pendulum has begun to swing back in recent years, with approximately $500 million appropriated to arts and cultural institution expansions set to be completed by 2007.

In the years surrounding the completion of the IDS

was done to build and cultivate cultural venues, and most of the

Tower, Minneapolis experienced significant growth in

signiﬁcant structures which were built during this time were high-

architectural landmarks. Many of these new buildings were

rise ofﬁce buildings.3

meant to house cultural venues, such as art museums and

The pendulum has begun to swing back in recent years, with

theatres. For example, Edward Larrabee Barnes’ modernist

approximately $500 million appropriated to arts and cultural

building for the Walker Art Center was completed in 1971,

institution expansions set to be completed by 2007. Among

and Kenzo Tange’s minimalist addition to the neoclassical

these new projects is the stark, modernist Minneapolis Central

URBAN

Generally Speaking

STORY

Understanding The Past, Present, And Future Of Minneapolis Through Its Architectural Landmarks

BY KARIN SOMMER

Photo from wikipedia.org

Photo from about.com

Library designed by Cesar Pelli that opened in May of 2006.

asked whether “the additions to these arts institutions [will]

This structure is the premier large-scale utilization of green

simply draw people away from other existing spaces in the Twin

architecture in Minnesota, with an 18,560 square foot green roof

Cities, or will they really excite more people about participating

covering the northern half of the building.4

and increase overall participation?”7 The reality is probably

Also of note is the new Walker Art Center Theatre Tower,

somewhere in between. Minnesotans are, generally, proud of their

state, and the addition of innovative and attractive buildings will

Barnes building was completed in April 2005. With a distinctive

most likely enhance this sense of pride. These new buildings can

aluminum façade, this building both compliments the old

also serve to attract attention from people outside of Minnesota,

building and establishes itself as a notable piece of work.

who will then, possibly, become aware of the already thriving

Perhaps the most outstanding new project, however, is Jean Nouvel’s Guthrie Theatre. Meant to replace Rapson’s Guthrie

cultural scene. Whatever the outcome, one thing is for certain: the excitement of a new era has returned to Minneapolis. ●

Theatre, the shape of Nouvel’s building reflects the surrounding industrial and mill structures that line the Mississippi River. Opened in June 2006, this theatre has garnered national and international acclaim for its design, which includes a blue glass and metal façade and the “Endless Bridge” - a cantilevered walkway that extends 178 feet from the building across West River Parkway and reflects the skyways that connect buildings in Minneapolis.5 As the history of architecture in Minneapolis teaches us, fancy new buildings are not sure-ﬁre indicators of a cultural change. In an interview on Minnesota Public Radio in June 2006, the University of Minnesota arts economist Ann Markusen

NOTES: 1

Emporis website, http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=122742, accessed 4 October 2006. 2 Minnesota Historical Society, http://www.mnhs.com, accessed 4 October 2006. 3 Emporis website, http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/ ?id=101331&bt=2&ht=2&sro=1, accessed 1 October 2006. 4 Emporis website, http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=201533, accessed 1 October 2006. 5 Emporis website, http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=178213, accessed 1 October 2006. 6 Milella, Domingo. “If You Build It, Will They Come?” in The New York Times Style Magazine, 24 September 2006. 7 Minnesota Public Radio broadcast, “New Minneapolis Architecture has National Proﬁle,” by Chris Roberts, 23 June 2006. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/ web/2006/06/23/architecturalmecca/.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

(WEB)SITE PLANNING

Emerging Technology And The Democratization Of Planning

BY JEZRA THOMPSON

merging technologies have come to inﬂuence our daily

opportunity to communicate and merge various perspectives

lives, act as instruments for expression, and enable greater

on important issues. In addition, many non-proﬁts, local

access to information. They also have the potential to be

governments, businesses, and other organizations are trying to

a catalyst for public engagement in city and regional planning.

reach the masses and inﬂuence actions by providing information

The speed of change in planning issues has increased pressure

and suggestions via the internet. For example, one community

on our cultural and social institutions to reﬂect broadening

blog based in Chinatown, Boston recaps the visioning process

ideas and develop more effective methods of communication

underway and summarizes news and events related to the

and participation. Technology may be a key tool to empower

redevelopment of a parcel of land in the area.3 Portland, of

communities and help democratize the planning process. This

course, has a livability blog, which talks about its neighborhoods,

article explores technology’s potential as an accessible outreach

the changes occurring, who and what are involved, and how we

and communication device to move towards a more inclusionary

can all participate.4 These community-based forums organized

approach to city and regional planning.

by various stakeholders focus on making information more

Not everyone can make it to the visioning charrettes

accessible to those who are marginalized and currently excluded

or city council meetings. Not everyone knows about these

from the planning process.5 These forums are exposed centers for

events: the topics at hand, how they affect their daily lives,

information that open the gates of planning to the community.

and most importantly how they can get involved and work

Many organizations have attempted to take technology a step

to improve living conditions. Technological devices such as

further and use it to actively engage the community. Advanced

online community forums and visualization materials can be

visioning methodologies, incorporating geographic information

productive tools to marry the people and the planners, who

system (GIS) modeling and in-depth presentation software that

are often conflicting yet equally valuable, and bring unique

visualize the effects of change are being utilized by planners

perspectives to the action process. 1

and government agencies interested in community planning.6

On one level, technology has allowed access to an

Through the use of visualizing software called PLACE3S,

unprecedented amount of information and provided an

mapping tools generate future scenarios that help describe a

avenue for people to organize and express their ideas.2 Online

neighborhood’s potential to grow and change.7 This program

communities formed by everyday citizens have created an

considers zoning, land use, transportation, housing, and any

URBAN

Generally Speaking

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

GARE DU NORD TRAIN STATION IN PARIS BY RICH BARONE

additional choices made by the planners and communities when

must consider the implications potential technology has to

creating scenarios.8

overpower rather than to empower.

The urban design and architecture ﬁrm

Dover, Kohl and Partners, based in Miami, Florida, implements

While visualizing is a constructive way to explain the

this type of computer-generated

planning process, it is equally important to improve on the

imaging to engage communities

availability of communication outreach tools, both mentally

with which they work.9 During

and physically. I have yet to ﬁnd a “live” community forum

charrettes they use digital imaging,

online that could replace an in-person charrette. Though it may

scanners, and other software as

impersonalize a few steps in the process, expanding accessibility

successful

has the potential to draw from the larger community, engage a

While visualizing is a constructive way to explain the planning process, it is equally important to improve on the availability of communication outreach tools, both mentally and physically.

The

presentation

Sacramento

tools. of

wider population, and aid in the democratization of planning.

their

Ultimately, technology has the potential to bring planning to the

plans for parks and recreation

people. We have come a long way from Robert Moses’ New York

to the City’s citizens utilizing

and his top-down exclusionary approach to urban planning, but

mapping tools on their website10

planners still have a steady course to follow, and we can use all

and during their community board

the help we can get. ●

Governments

Council

presented

presentations.11 There is also an option for comments regarding these plans and the tools they use

to convey them on their website, opening paths to exchanging ideas and dialogues for critique.

Though these programs are great tools for change and help bridge the gap of communication between affected citizens and the planning organization or government agency acting as implementer, they are often overly complicated and may require some type of “specialist.” A few websites contained comments on these visioning processes by participants and other planning professionals regarding the lack of user-friendly software used during presentations.13 This is an obvious problem, especially when the idea is to bring planning to the people. Mechanisms must exist in order to fully realize change in participation. We

NOTES: 1

Snyder, Ken. 2005. “A Need for Democracy in Planning.” Planetizen. http://www. planetizen.com/node/17469. 2 Chavan, Abhijeet. 2003. “Power To The People.” Planetizen. http://www.planetizen. com/node/97. 3 Blogger. http://parcel24.blogspot.com/. 4 Portland Communique. http://communique.portland.or.us/. 5 Blogger. http://parcel24.blogspot.com/. 6 OʼReilly, Tim. 2005. “What is Web 2.0, Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software.” http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/ news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html. 7 Snyder. 8 OʼReilly. 9 Dover, Kohl and Partners Town Planning. http://www.doverkohl.com/. 10 Snyder. 11 City of Sacramento. http://maps.cityofsacramento.org/. 12 City of Sacramento. 13 Snyder.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

G N I P THE TIP 14

URBAN

The Tipping Point

I P P I T G N I P TIP

T........

POIN PIN G

G IN

IT P

he term “tipping point” is loosely deﬁned as “the moment when something unique becomes common”.1 In its original application, it was used to describe

the moment when a neighborhood “tipped” from white to black, causing the phenomenon of white flight. In recent years, thanks to Malcolm Gladwell, the term, in a great meta-moment, reached its own tipping point and entered the common lexicon. This issue of URBAN began as a search for the answer to one question: Has planning reached its tipping point? All of a sudden, it seems that planning is everywhere – from center tables in bookstores to the public political agenda. As detailed in Roe’s article, the City is currently developing a 25-year, long-term strategic plan. Likewise, Ninova’s article contemplates the influx of planning into everyday speech. These days, Jacobian is more evocative of Jane Jacobs than calculus. From this brief survey, the answer to our initial question seems an undeniable yes. Yes, the value of planning is now widely accepted. Yes, the language of planning is now commonplace. And yet, something does not quite ring true. Any planner could point to an idea that is still battling uphill: too expensive, too inhibitive of development, too fruitless. While green roofs have certainly made their way into the popular lexicon, price still keeps them from covering the City. Crosby, in his article on Critical Mass, discusses the obstacles facing alternative transportation forms, while Triana points to a variety of issues that have yet to even make it onto the agenda. Finally, we can ask ourselves what pushes a movement, idea, or practice to its tipping point. Of course, the answer to this question is complicated and likely to vary from situation to situation. The recipe for green roofs is different than the recipe for protected bike lanes. Hopefully, this edition will help to assess where planning (as a concept) and individual planning ideas fall on their respective paths to the tipping point, and shed some light on what confluence of circumstances are necessary to push an idea to the proverbial brink. ●

NOTES: 1

Wikipedia. 2006. “Tipping Point.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipping_Point on 28 October 2006.

The Tipping Point

URBAN

The Tipping Point

Photo by Kay Cheng

A NEW NEW YORK Strategic Planning Comes To New York: Peeking At The Garvin Report

BY MATTHEW ROE

ith the population of New York expected to increase by

are creating a plan for the next 25 years... The point is not just

a million people in the next two decades, it is no wonder

to manage the growth, but to create a greater city, a more livable

that city government is working on a long-term plan to

city, a more sustainable city.”3

accommodate growth. Finding places for these newcomers to

The triad of a bigger, better, and greener New York is slowly

live, work, and play will take more than a little planning. During

being translated into policy. Mayor Bloomberg quietly created an

this year’s State of the City Address, Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Ofﬁce of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, with direct ties to

announced the development of a “sweeping interagency, ﬁve-

new ofﬁces of Strategic Planning in several key agencies. The mayor

borough Strategic Land Use Plan, focusing particularly on

has also appointed a Sustainability Advisory Board, initiated a new

housing, transportation, energy, and infrastructure.”2 Billed as

partnership with the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and

the ﬁrst such plan since the 1970s, the Mayor’s potentially multi-

announced a six-month, citywide greenhouse gas inventory.

volume analysis is being compiled by several consulting groups

On 16 September, Mayor Bloomberg ofﬁcially announced

under the direction of a new agency, the Ofﬁce of Long Term

his sustainability plan: a broad effort to make New York more

Planning and Sustainability. The daunting task is to explain

environmentally and economically sustainable through improved

how New York City can accommodate substantial growth while

land use. Speaking in California, land of sustainable energy and

remaining livable.

unsustainable urban form, the Mayor stated his goal of making

BIGGER, BETTER, GREENER

“New York City a national leader in meeting the challenge of making ours an environmentally sustainable city. To make New

When interviewed in The New York Observer, Deputy Mayor

York a truly sustainable city, we need a bold plan to use our land

Daniel Doctoroff spoke of the plan as a vast undertaking: “We

in the smartest way possible.”4

The Tipping Point

URBAN

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

BUFFALO IN THE BRONX (Z00) BY HEATHER ROITER

Even before the Mayor’s announcement, New Yorkers got

Most dramatically, the Report suggests a new entrepreneurial

a sneak peak of how land-use priorities might change under

role for New York City in the development of platform housing.5

the banner of sustainability. In August 2006, Streetsblog

These proposed housing platforms, ranging from a 30,000-unit

leaked a report prepared for the City’s Economic Development

housing and mixed-use development in Sunnyside, Queens, to a

Corporation. The so-called “Garvin Report,” one of several

few blocks of row-houses in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, would add a

reports recently commissioned by the new Sustainability Ofﬁce,

total of 325,000 new units to New York City, just enough for the

has found a relatively warm reception in both the traditional real

City’s much-touted one million new expected residents.

estate press and the blogosphere. Does it live up to the hype?

THE GARVIN REPORT The Garvin Report, produced by Alexander Garvin and Associates,

The Report outlines ways to add these apartments with little direct residential displacement, suggesting that the City itself build the $500 per square foot decks and then sell building rights to developers.

is a wide-ranging document aimed at providing a basic look at

This type of development is made feasible by rising real

what New York City can do to address the supply of housing

estate prices. Decking the highways is now often cheaper than the

and the quality of public space. Its surprising premise is that

cost of buying land in many adjacent neighborhoods. Relatively complex decking projects have succeeded

Importantly for housing planners, this strategy allows the Reportʼs analysis to focus on market-rate housing, not explicitly discussing whether any units would be designated as affordable.

in the past; the Garvin Report cites Park Avenue north of Grand Central Station as the genre’s most lucrative example.6 However, owing in part to their scale and public subsidization, recent decking proposals, such as the controversial Atlantic

valuable transportation rights-of-way in New York are actually

Yards and the delayed Hudson Yards, have polarized the City.

underutilized, and could be better managed to provide room for

Importantly for housing planners, this strategy allows the

housing and public open space. Streets, claims the Report, can

Report’s analysis to focus on market-rate housing, not explicitly

serve as temporary or permanent parks, and highways and rail

discussing whether any units would be designated as affordable.

yards can support market-rate development. To achieve these

The approach of building on brand-new land allows the proposal

lofty goals, the Report proposes decking such areas to construct

to largely skirt the political issue of affordable housing. Given

new mixed-use developments, building new light-rail transit

the Report’s formula for break-even investment, the City would

lines, and better managing the 5,800 miles of public space known

have to sell or rent its units at market rate. The Report suggests

as city streets, all in the name of keeping the City an appealing

that housing prices will instead be contained by increasing

place to live, work, and play.

supply to meet demand.

URBAN

The Tipping Point

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

SNOW IN NEW YORK’S SUBWAY STATION BY JP FLAHERTY

Though reasonable in the current real estate market, the

aside for future study. In lieu of a traditional “Needs Analysis,”

housing proposal contains an analytical weakness. The Report

the Garvin Report offers an “Opportunity Analysis” of a wide

recommends that the City produce these decks only if they will

array of projects.

break even. But real estate prices can change during the course

The Mayor’s strategic planning efforts are reshaping city

of a project, making these large, long-term investments a risky

government to implement many changes to the City’s publicly

business venture requiring huge capital outlays.

owned built environment. As an example of the type of planning being considered by New York City, the Garvin Report is

THE PUBLIC REALM

important because its scope and method open new possibilities

While some of the Report’s development proposals are ahead of

for urban planning in New York. Its emphasis on systematic

their time, its public-transit ideas do not go far enough. Speciﬁc

analysis of multiple projects at once through a cost-revenue

innovative proposals include light rail along Third Avenue in

analysis, rather than a comparatively complex cost-beneﬁt

the Bronx and along the East River waterfront in Queens and

analysis, marks a departure from traditional planning. Given the

Brooklyn, a broad new program of greenways (protected bike

political appeal of self-funding projects, the Garvin Report, and

lanes), and Sunday closures of major and minor streets, including

other reports of similar scope and method, might have a chance

Broadway. But, there is no discussion of Bus Rapid Transit, value

of shaping policy in the years to come. ●

pricing on roads, or any other means of allocating street space to transit. Nor is there discussion of regional transportation, typically the greatest challenge (but greatest opportunity) for any city to deﬁne its built form.

NOTES:

SIGNIFICANCE FOR PLANNING IN NEW YORK Public agencies in New York City have often shied away from master plans, largely allowing developers and the real estate market to determine the shape of the City.

This reluctance

is part of the reason why the Garvin Report is a departure from “planning as usual.” Rather than trying to measure and fulﬁll local needs that may be “outdated, theoretical” or even “arbitrary,” the Report proposes a series of highly remunerative public developments and investments.9 All the Report’s planning diagrams are accompanied by a summary of net revenues, and those projects with negative net revenues for the City are set

“One million in the next decade” is a controversial number, but the most often quoted. NYC experienced 9% growth from 1990 to 2000; and even with no net migration, births outstrip deaths by over 60,000 annually – leading to 1.3 million new (young) New Yorkers in the next twenty years. (New York City Department of City Planning, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/lucds/nycproﬁle.pdf. 2 “The Shape of Things to Come: View City in the Year 2026!” New York Observer 8/21/2006, Matthew Schuerman http://www.observer.com/20060821/20060821_ Matthew_Schuerman_pageone_ﬁnancialpress.asp. 3 Scheurman, “The Shape of Things to Come.” 4 Streetsblog website, accessed October 12, 2006. http://www.streetsblog. org/2006/09/21/bloomberg-sustainability-announcement/. 5 Garvin & Associates, Inc, “Vision for New York: Housing and the Public Realm.” PDF document created 16 August 2006. [Draft Version] p. 14. 6 Garvin & Associates, p. 12. 7 Garvin & Associates, p. 78. 8 NYC Streets Renaissance, http://www.nycsr.org/nyc/truth.php. 9 Garvin & Associates, p. 6.

The Tipping Point

URBAN

Image from ABC

(GRAD)SCHOOLHOUSE RHETORIC A First Year Planner Acknowledges Her Lack Of...er...Knowledge

BY MINNA NINOVA

can’t say with any degree of certainty where I was or what I

approval of something they do not quite understand (but think

was doing when I came to grips with my addiction to planning

they probably should). The brave among them swallow their

jargon. I hope against hope that it was well after being accepted

pride and ask what “exactly” an urban planner does. You’re

into an accredited planning program, but something tells me I’d

ready for it: adaptive reuse of exurban, post-industrial sites!

already been less than discrete for months: I occasionally wake

Ha! Checkmate!

up in the middle of night, clammy and upset by dreams in which

I grew fond of the response I got when I would utter phrases

a concerned friend forcibly drags me off a street corner as I wave

like urban fabric, the built environment, photovoltaic panels.

well-thumbed copies of Jane Jacobs in the air, mumbling to

But then things started going sour. Coworkers started forwarding

myself about big-box retail. Intellectuals sitting in nearby cafes

articles about pre-fabricated housing in Venice Beach. At parties

avert their eyes. I’m like a freeway accident for the thinking

I was asked to name my favorite Herzog & du Meuron design.

person – they’re trying not to look, but it’s hard to ignore the girl

“This is, like, your thing, right?” It was time to re-evaluate my

with a loose grip on anti-sprawl rhetoric.

relationship to buzzwords and ﬁgure out how I wound up so high

It started innocently enough: parents’ friends or colleagues

on idiom and low on substance.

politely inquire about my future plans, expecting nothing more

After a month of classes and little-to-no interaction with the

exotic than “law school” or maybe the failsafe “working-for-

outside world, I’ve come to this: blame it on the sea change. Had

now.” But then I drop the phrase “urban planning” and watch

I been born 20 years earlier, I would have known better than

a different scene unfold. Eyes widen and heads nod slowly in

to trot out urban renewal over dinner. But these days, a word-

URBAN

The Tipping Point

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

PREFABRICATED HOUSING IN AMSTERDAM BY HEATHER ROITER

dropping student of planning has nothing to fear. Thanks to the

issued this summer at the closing of the third UN-HABITAT

mainstreaming of the debate over global warming, the blue-

World Urban Forum in Vancouver placed a strong emphasis

state/red-state schism, and accessible best sellers like Richard

on planning as a tool for sustainable urban development and

Florida’s The Rise of the Creative

environmental management, and as a means of preventing future

Class, urban studies vernacular

slum growth.1 Not just government ofﬁcials and urban planners

is no longer a strange bedfellow

accepted this view. Civil society groups also urged planning to

to the generational zeitgeist.

be more inclusive, transparent, and ethical. It was the ﬁrst time

There’s a cozy bookstore off

planning appeared prominently on the agenda of the conference

Dupont Circle in Washington,

since the initial World Urban Forum in 1976.2

How handy that people are taking notice of the ﬁeld of planning just as Iʼm looking to take ownership of it through abstract language!

D.C., where Richard Florida’s

So maybe the planet is coming around. That leaves me, the

book is piled high on the center

jargonista. I did not intend to style myself as an insta-expert

table, right next to – guess who

overnight. That was a side effect of trying to sound like I knew

– Jane Jacobs. Center table! It’s

my stuff before I’d even registered for the classes where the stuff

enough to move a planner to tears. How handy that people are

is taught. It’s understandable - after all, nobody wants to come

taking notice of the ﬁeld of planning just as I’m looking to take

off as a novice. But I’ve come to the liberating conclusion that

ownership of it through abstract language!

there is an advantage to naïveté - a fresh perspective. I recently

Now for the hard questions: can it be so easy? Does talking

read in Slate that when The Death and Life of Great American

the talk mean walking the walk? Are people actually making a

Cities was published in 1961, Lewis Mumford wrote a New

distinction between planning, design, and architecture when

Yorker column titled “Mother Jacobs’ Home Remedies” in which

they adopt sexy terms like sustainability? Will the emergence

he called Jacob’s book a “mingling of sense and sentimentality,

of these terms in quotidian conversation play a role in changing

of mature judgments and schoolgirl howlers.”3

the future of cities? Also very urgent: do I have the skills to talk

Talk about giving a schoolgirl hope. ●

about these things without sounding like a schoolgirl? The answers are both promising and petrifying. To my parents’ friends in Southern California, “planning” means “planned

NOTES:

communities,” which really means “gated communities,” which

means “great place to live”. But elsewhere on the planet, people are looking to planning as a method, a procedural intervention in a decades-long trend of unbalanced development. A report

MacDonald, Kelvin. “Forum Hails Key Triumph”. Planning, July 7, 2006 via LexisNexis. 2 Ibid. 3 Robczynski, Witold. “Home Remedies: The Vibrant Legacy of Jane Jacobs”. Slate Magazine, April 26, 2006. http://www.slate.com/id/2140615/.

The Tipping Point

URBAN

NO Y R A N ORDI C I F F A TR Explor

nity始s L ing Urba

URBAN

ove/Hate

The Tipping Point

he B ip With T h s n io t la

icycle

HEW B Y M AT T

CROSBY

Photo by Kay Cheng

ritical Mass is an active statement against the United States’

promote biking. In fact, the City’s Department of Transportation

car-dominant culture and its attendant costs. On its tenth

develops innovative policies to encourage and protect cycling.

anniversary, in the city of its founding, I rode in a core of

There are plans to substantially increase the number of bike

cyclists, surrounded by over 11,000 activists, to reclaim the San

lanes in the City over the next two years, bringing the total to

Francisco city grid, and I watched as auto-culture tipped in favor

more than 600.5

of the bicycle. That tip was temporally and spatially limited, but the

STRIKING A BALANCE

movement has expanded to become a global phenomenon with

While the increase in painted bike lanes is important, the safety

monthly events. The activities of Critical Mass intentionally force

they provide to cyclists is limited. A comprehensive network of

conﬂict with municipal authorities in the United States. This

separate-use lanes embedded within the street grid is necessary

conﬂict highlights the factors limiting cycling’s legitimacy as an

to make cycling safe and truly viable, and mitigate motorist and

alternative form of transit.

police hostility towards cyclists.

HATE US...

initiatives to protect the public’s health; just look at the City’s

One major limitation is safety. Riding a bike within the conﬁnes

prohibition

of the law in most American cities is a fool’s errand. In 2005, 784

space smoking, and the proposed

cyclists were killed by cars and trucks on American roadways,

regulation of trans-fats. The built

and an estimated 45,000 were injured.1 Moreover, cycling

environment should be formed to

fatalities and injuries are often underreported due, in part, to

support the City’s commitment

lack of follow-up enforcement by police.2 In many respects,

cyclists are secondary concerns of motorists and municipal

through

reduction

leaders, and are often literal targets of the status quo. If an

vehicle

emissions,

alternative form of transportation is simply unsafe, can it still

which have been shown to overburden certain communities with

be called an alternative?

cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions.6 Elevated asthma

City public ofﬁcials have been known to implement bold

Another issue is local policy. The City of New York at times supports and at times impedes a cultural tip to bicycle transit.

protecting

indoor,

citizen of

public-

health motor-

If an alternative form of transportation is simply unsafe, can it still be called an alternative?

emissions

incidence is particularly perverse for low-income communities that show lower rates of car ownership7.

During the 2004 Republican National Convention (RNC), Police

Effective urban design can mitigate conﬂict between the

Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly instructed his department

NYPD and the Critical Mass, impact health through the built

to suppress speech in many forms, including riding a bike in

environment, and increase NYC’s livability and resulting

assembly. According to Time’s Up! (one of the RNC Critical

attractiveness to investment.8

Mass organizers) the NYPD made nearly 400 bike arrests, and

If Critical Mass forces the city to bolster the effects of policy

impounded several hundred more. On

with design, as it has legally forced the NYPD to change its

Sunday, August 29th, 2004, without prior

position, then it is in fact no ordinary trafﬁc. ●

TWO WHEELS GOOD Left: Large cycling events like Transportation Alternativesʼ Five Boro Bike Tour have helped promote bicycle use. However, an autocentric infrastructure still dominates the scene.

notice or justiﬁcation, the NYPD instituted a “bike-frozen zone” between 34th St. and 59th St., west of Sixth Avenue.3 Commissioner Kelly claims that Critical Mass is a parade that requires permitting, and, therefore, without a permit, can be shut down. However, the Commissioner’s position was struck down in February 2006 by the

New York State Supreme Court’s denial of NYPD’s preliminary injunction against the monthly rides. As the Honorable Michael D. Stallman, Justice of the Supreme Court, noted, “if Critical Mass riders wish to be treated as ordinary trafﬁc, then it comes as no surprise that they would reject efforts to treat them as a parade, as opposed to ordinary trafﬁc.”4

...OR LOVE US On the other hand, the sustained police response against Critical Mass has surprised many long-time commuter and recreational cyclists living in NYC. The City has recently been working hard to

NOTES: 1 Administration, N. H. T. S. (2005). “Trafﬁc Safety Facts, 2005 Data: Bicyclists and Other Cyclists.” http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2005/BicyclistsTSF05.pdf. 2 J.R. Klop, A. J. Khattak. (1999). “Factors Inﬂuencing Bicycle Crash Severity on TwoLane, Undivided Roadways in North Carolina.” Transportation Research Record, 1674, TRB, National Academies, Washington, D.C. pp. 78-85. 3 “Call for Cyclists.” Time’s Up! NYC <http://www.times-up.org/call_rnc.php>. 4 The City of New York, Raymond Kelly, as Commissioner of the New York City Police Department v. Timesʼ Up, Inc. Supreme Ct. of the State of NY. Index No. 400891/05. 14 Feb. 2006 5 Kurutz, Stephen. “Queasy Rider.” The New York Times 24 2006. C1+ 6 Frank, Lawrence, Frumpkin, Howard, and Jackson, Richard. Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2004. 7 I Kawachi, S V Subramanian and N Almeida-Filho. “A Glossary for Health Inequalities.” J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2002;56;647-652 8 Mayor Elmar Ledergerber, “Re-development of Post-Industrial Financial Centers,” Lectures in Planning Series, Wood Auditorium, Columbia University, New York, 3 Oct. 2006.

The Tipping Point

URBAN

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS A Realistic Overview Of What Planners Should REALLY Be Thinking About

BY ANNA KLEPPERT

he man who served as my unofﬁcial mentor during my ﬁnal

emerge. All I had to do was harness them. After graduate school,

year of college would tell me stories about graduate school.

I could head out to improve the world, since my education would

I would be broke, yes, he said, but I would subsist on decent

give me all the necessary tools to do just that.

red wine and imported cheese. I would stay up late discussing

After my ﬁrst semester, it became clear that in fact, no

the theories of my craft with my fellow planners. He made school

planner, no matter her years of experience or level of expertise,

sound like a wine-infused, two-year-long intellectual exercise,

knows with much certainty how to promote positive change

during which time new ideas of “good” cities would spontaneously

in the world. Planners do understand that they are entering a

URBAN

The Tipping Point

professional world that offers limited feedback from the people

a small decision ﬁnally gains enough traction to become an

ultimately affected by their work.

important part of a plan, might be reached without much fanfare.

A patient’s body either accepts or rejects a heart transplant

Every eye that reads a ﬁnished report belongs to somebody who

from a surgeon, and a rock band either ﬁlls auditoriums and

can be persuaded to change his or her views. Someone with

theaters or it doesn’t. Planners, on the other

far greater authority to act than a budding

hand, do not have the luxury of getting a

planner, may very well be inﬂuenced by an

timely, clear response to their work. They do not know whether an inspiring idea will yield the desired effect when implemented. They cannot sit at a building all day, and poll each citizen to determine whose needs have been adequately met, and whose have been sidelined. In the strictest sense, a planner is working for the person paying her wage. Feedback from the client and supervisor is easily gathered. However, a planner’s clients are also all those people who will passively or actively use the places that the planner has helped create. A planner does not need to have served on a blue ribbon commission to contribute to a decision that has either compromised or enhanced another person’s quality of life. It’s

A planner does not need to have served on a blue ribbon commission to contribute to a decision that has either compromised or enhanced another personʼs quality of life.

innovative approach or solution presented in a student’s report. Planners should not underestimate the impact a single paper, paragraph, or chart might have on others, even years down the road. Given the average lifespan of any real plan, a few years down the road may be just the moment when an inspired sentence from a graduate thesis, or a colorful graph from a studio paper, comes across the desk of an uninspired professional planner. Sometimes, such ideas take hold. I have been the author of a creative thought that, surprisingly, made its way into a plan. I can assure you that when I wrote it, I did not think that I would positively impact the world. But I did care deeply about the issues at stake.

often the least obvious details of a plan that

The unadulterated idealism and creativity

ultimately shape the quality of places, and

that many planning students experience

those details are frequently molded by the written and spoken

early in their careers may be very difﬁcult for seasoned planners

opinions of many different planners.

to achieve. So, a word to all planning students: work with that

So it is imperative that planners understand how soon they

sense of idealism while you still have it. This wine-infused,

will begin to affect the lives of those living in the cities in which

two-year-long intellectual exercise may offer some of the best

they are studying, interning, or working. The tipping point, when

opportunities to inﬂuence the world you hope to change. ●

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

UNTITLED BY CATE CORLEY

The Tipping Point

URBAN

SAY IT LOUD...

YOU’RE A PLANNER A Cheesy Overview Of What Planners Should REALLY Be Thinking About

BY ALEJANDRO TRIANA

efore you decide to read this article, please take a moment to close your eyes and imagine the following scenario...are you ready?

No, seriously, are you ready? Imagine moving the entire population of Brooklyn (2,465,326 New Yorkers1) out of their homes, in the middle of the night, without any of their belongings: not a blanket, not clothes, not a bag. Even worse, let’s picture groups of men, with guns, yelling, shooting, killing. Brooklynites are running desperate, scared, crying, wanting to escape. Daybreak comes, but they know they cannot go back. So now they have to walk for days, 219 miles north to another city – Boston say. When they arrive there is nothing for them and no one to help, not family, not government. Entire families – boys and girls, old and young – destined for nothing in a city they have never known. This is the condition of the Colombian refugee. Here’s another one. Close your eyes again. Trust me. Remember that long shower you took the other day? Remember how good it felt as the hot water ran through your hair and over your face? Well, imagine that all of a sudden there is no more water, not even enough to clean a spoon. You open the faucets all the way, but mud comes spewing out. A smell that can only be compared to road kill seeps through the pipes and reality hits: you have no running water. You look at your watch. You’re too late. You could go to the well nearby, but everyone has been waiting in line for at least

Collage by Alejandro Triana

URBAN

The Tipping Point

six hours. That means you are going to have to walk, ten miles

AND DAMN PROUD!! maybe, to the next well. There, you will only be allowed to pump

these other players are “done” the planner is just beginning.

ﬁve gallons of water before you head back home to your spouse and children. This is the situation in Uganda. One professor started the year by telling his class that it is

Indeed my planning friends, you will have successes and failures. The task is immense and never-ending: bringing all individuals, groups, committees, families, tenants, stake-holders

an exciting time to be a planner. I don’t know if I believe him.

together; looking at an issue from every

To be honest, I don’t know what I’m supposed to be excited

possible angle, be it social, cultural,

about. I am certainly not excited about starving refugees,

physical, sociological, architectural, or

homelessness, poverty, unemployment, or illiteracy. What

political; integrating all these different

makes it worse is that I am afraid of not doing the job right, of

viewpoints

not being able to help everyone: from the family that lost their

policy, design guidelines, codes.

father to social unrest, to the the three-year-old boy who died dehydrated in his bed.

and

considerations

into

Sure the task is daunting, but you may have the solution to the housing

You will wear so many hats that sometimes youʼll forget how your own hair looks.

Being a planner is not like being an architect, a chef, or

crisis, or you may hold the key to water

a lawyer. For these other professionals, the problem has a

distribution in sub-Saharan deserts. You

beginning and an end. The architect studies the site, develops a

might be the next Ebenezer Howard, Frederick Law Olmstead,

design, supervises construction, and – voila – a building. A chef

or Jane Jacobs. For that matter, you may be the next Corbusier

preps, chops, fries, serves, and – bang – bon appetit. The lawyer

or Moses. Who knows? The truth is, the world has adjusted itself

investigates, prepares a defense, makes a statement, a closing,

to the successes and failures of the past. The world is ready for a

and – cha-ching – acquittal.

whole new set of solutions, ﬂops, mistakes, and best efforts.

The planner, let me see... Well, the planner never sees the

Yes, you will wear so many hats that sometimes you’ll forget

beginning. He or she continues the work on an existing issue, be

how your own hair looks, but always remember why you chose

it housing, economic development, or social justice. The planner

this career. Remember why you went to a school that opens a

works with the architect to develop a building program that

door that leads to a million others. Not only is it an exciting time

better serves the surrouding community. The planner works

to be a planner, given the refugees, favelas, and water shortages

with the chef to establish a coalition of restauranteurs supportive

today, it is an essential time to be a planner. We might just be the

of small neighborhood businesses. The planner works with the

next critical mass. ●

lawyer to develop land-use regulations or issue RFPs. In other words the planner is everywhere, but also nowhere. The planner brings these key players to the table and makes things happen. The planner analyzes an area and coordinates

NOTES:

activities with the built, social, and cultural environment. When

US Census. 2000. http://factﬁnder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en.

The Tipping Point

URBAN

AWOL Bringing Our Nationʼs Housing Policy Back From Its Unauthorized Leave Of Absence

BY AMY BOYLE

ot so long ago, I was an assistant to a United States

What would it take to make a housing policy designed to

congressman. The most boring part of my job is now

beneﬁt those most in need? To answer this question, we must

represented by a moderately intriguing line on my resume:

review the history of housing policy in the United States. During

“housing policy advisor.” I say boring because Congress engages

the Great Depression, half of the homeowners in the United

in very little promotion or even discussion of housing policy

States defaulted on their home loans.3 This inspired the federal

anymore. The United States’ housing policy was largely developed

government to create programs with the twin goals of developing

a generation or two ago, and now the only debates surrounding

rental housing for low-income working people and reducing the

housing in Congress are over proposed funding cuts to the budget

ﬁnancial risks of homeownership.4 By 1937, Congress had created

of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

a public housing program that provided grants and loans to local

Currently, there is no national housing policy and no

governments to aid construction of low-income housing offering

comprehensive or cohesive housing programs of which to speak.

affordable rents.5 In 1949, Congress declared that there should

In fact, the “housing program” that receives the most federal

be “a decent home and a suitable living environment for every

funding is not a program to create or support affordable housing

American.”6 These periods of crisis necessitated the development

at all. Rather, it is a tax deduction for people who own homes,

of a national housing policy and, despite a few strike-outs,

with the largest deduction going to those who own the most

Congress was willing to step up to the plate to improve the living

expensive homes. This deduction, which President George W.

conditions in this country.

Bush’s Commission on Tax Reform named as one greatly in need

While we are by no means in the midst of a Great Depression,

of change,1 costs the federal treasury $63 billion in revenues

there are strong signs that the market is not working for many

each year.2 Much of the federal government’s select resources for

Americans today, that these are crisis conditions. Over 22 percent

housing assistance are going to this country’s households who

of renters in the United States (7.4 million households) spend

need it the least.

more than half of their income on housing.7 Nearly 15 million

URBAN

The Tipping Point

the number of affordable units that are being taken off of the market.13 Each year low-income Americans have fewer housing options. Federal programs are not able to ﬁll the gap between the needs of the people and the housing provided by the market. What moved our nation’s housing policy from a multidimensional driver of the economy to a one-trick pony? While many historical factors have played a role in this digression, lack of action by our elected leaders has been the dominant force.

And most

Americans, complacent in their homes with their related tax cuts, have stood idly by and watched housing become less affordable for working-class people. Congress challenged the Millennium Housing Commission to come up with a series of recommendations to ﬁx many

What moved our nationʼs housing policy from a multidimensional driver of the economy to a one-trick pony?

of our nation’s housing woes.14 Yet politicians never acted on their plan, and most Americans didn’t complain. It’s not just our politicians that have been apathetic to the growing housing crisis; the voting public has allowed politicians to ignore these problems. As planners, we should do more than create “sexy” plans that sit on the bookshelves of Avery Library. We need to recognize that many ideas teetering at their tipping points will not be pushed into real action unless we force politicians to act. As malaise toward our political system grows, reducing the high cost of housing is one cause that could potentially unite and energize Americans. The creation of a national housing policy is sitting on the brink of reality, waiting to be pushed by the PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

power of the American people, and planners are just the people to coordinate this effort. ●

AFTER THE PARADE BY ALEJANDRO TRIANA

households pay more than 30 percent of their income (the national standard of acceptability for housing costs) for rental housing.8 And for households earning a minimum wage9 the numbers are even more daunting -- 70 percent of their income is spent on housing.10 Easier access to homeownership loans does not seem to solve the problem. For example, while banks have made it easier for people to take out loans to buy homes, the rate of delinquency on those loans has tripled in recent years.11 The only housing program remaining is the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), which is designed to catalyze the development of affordable rental housing. However, a report by the congressionally-appointed Millennium Housing Commission found that the number of affordable rental units, both those produced under the LIHTC and those already in the market, has been declining.12 Our current production of affordable housing units that receive LIHTC funding isn’t even keeping pace with

NOTES: 1

Home Mortgage Deduction Under Attack By Presidential Panel. 2005. Mortgage News Daily. www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/10242005_Home_Mortgage_Interest_ Deduction.asp Viewed 5 November 2006. 2 Rosenbaum, David E. 2005. Panel Urges Big Cut in Mortgage Deduction. New York Times. 2 November 2005. 3 Listokin, David. 1990. Federal Housing Policy and Preservation: Historical Evolutions, Patterns, and Implications. Housing Policy Debate. Volume 2, Issue 2. 4 ibid. 5 ibid. 6 Martinez, Sylvia C. 2000. The Housing Act of 1949: Its Place in the Realization of the American Dream of Homeownership. Housing Policy Debate. Volume 11, Issue 2. 7 Katz, Bruce. 2006. Housing and the 2008 Election. Speech given to the National Association of Housing Redevelopment Ofﬁcials. 13 March 2006. Found on the Brookings Institution website: www.brookings.edu/metro/speeches/20060313_ housing.htm. 8 ibid. 9 This was calculated at minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, which is the law in many states, according to the United States Department of Labor: http://www.dol.gov/esa/ minwage/america.htm. This hourly wage correlates with the annual income of this demographic described by Katz. 10 Katz. 11 Whitehouse, Mark. As Home Owners Face Strains, Market Bets on Loan Defaults. The Wall Street Journal. 30 October 2006. A1. 12 Meet Our Nationʼs Housing Challenges: Report of the Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission. 30 May 2002. 13 A large number of LIHTC units are reaching the age when they are allowed to stop being rented at affordable rates and become market rate under federal law. 14 Meet Our Nationʼs Housing Challenges: Report of the Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission.

The Tipping Point

URBAN

THE BIG GREEN APPLE New York City Council Shows Its Colors

BY BEN HARWOOD

ew York City is the country’s largest and most exciting

consumption.1 As such, a policy change of this magnitude would

city, soon it could also be the greenest. While the Bush

have a signiﬁcant net effect on metropolitan energy production,

administration continues its myopic inactivity on critical

conservation, and emissions trends.

environmental issues, New York City’s government is emerging

Beyond municipal emissions reductions, the Climate

as a leader of climate protection and resource conservation. City

Protection Act mandates a reduction of non-city government

Council is working on a piece of green house gas legislation that

emissions to 7% below 1990 levels by 2012, in accordance with

would truly make New York City the green apple.

the target set by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Additionally, the bill

The Council currently has before it the New York City Climate

would create educational public outreach programs to teach

Protection Act, legally referred to as Intro 20. For the past year,

New Yorkers about global climate change, and a corporate and

climate advocates, policy specialists, environmental scientists,

institutional emissions reduction partnership program.

public health ofﬁcials, and others have stood before the Council in support of this bill and it is likely to pass in the near future.

As the City forges down its green path, New York State is quietly making impressive environmental headway. Albany is

Intro 20 calls for New York City’s government facilities to

getting ready to pass ultra-strict vehicle emissions standards,

reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1994 levels by

similar to those already passed in California. Such legislation

2009, 25% by 2015, and 30% by 2020. The bill would affect,

will likely compel state energy utilities to take part in a regional

but is not limited to, city-owned and operated buildings, solid

“cap-and-trade” emissions program, the ﬁrst of its kind in North

waste activities, operation of vehicle ﬂeets, use of streetlights

America. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (“ReGGie”) is

and trafﬁc signals, and sewer and water operations. The City

a cooperative effort of nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states

is one of the biggest energy consumers in New York, spending

to design a regional cap-and-trade program monitoring carbon

nearly half a billion dollars annually on heat, light, and power.

dioxide emissions from power plants in the region.2

The City and the New York Public Housing Authority together

This would not be the City’s ﬁrst stance on climate change.

account for more than 10% of New York City’s total energy

In May 2005, Mayor Bloomberg joined a coalition of 131 mayors

URBAN

The Tipping Point

committed to fighting global climate change at the municipal level.3 This bipartisan coalition represents nearly 29 million citizens in over 35 states. In July of 2004, the City of New York was the only city government to join eight states in filing a landmark lawsuit against five of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the United States.4 Just a year ago the Council passed another important piece of environmental legislation – Local Law 86, known as the Green Buildings Bill. The Bill mandates that city buildings and capital projects, including non-government buildings and projects funded 50% or more by the City, follow environmental building standards during design, construction, and renovation. The Green Buildings Bill, which will go into effect 1 January 2007, mandates that buildings achieve certification according to the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy

While the Bush administration continues its myopic inactivity on critical environmental issues, New York Cityʼs government is emerging as a leader of climate protection and resource conservation.

and

Environmental

Design (LEED) program. The LEED

certiﬁcation

requires

high performance in the areas of sustainable project planning and site allocation, water efﬁciency, energy, material and resource use, and indoor environmental quality. The city government is one of the largest property owners and tenants in the City, with

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

more than 2,500 major assets containing 200 million square

THE TIPPING POINT OF WEST AFRICAN FREIGHT

feet, plus an additional 22 million square feet in leased space.5 By making the city government’s buildings more sustainable, the Green Buildings Bill will surely make New York City’s built environment cleaner overall.

BY LILY LANGLOIS

City Council’s fervor for cleaning up the City’s act is also evident in local laws 118, 119, 121, and 123 of 2005, which established a city ofﬁce of environmental purchasing, mandated the purchase of energy efﬁcient products, the use of products

legacy.8 When you add the City’s recent ﬂurry of environmental

with recycled content, and the use of less toxic or “green”

legislation to its already extensive parks system, public transportation

cleaning and custodial products, respectively. The City currently

network, and efﬁcient high-density layout, New York City stacks up

spends over a billion dollars every year on supplies, materials,

as a pretty sustainable place to live. And with growing municipal

and equipment. In ﬁscal year 2004, the City spent $715,320

and public support for progressive environmental reform, New

on cleaning supplies alone. Increasing the number of green

York City may soon become the Big Green Apple. ●

products purchased by the City could positively alter spending patterns and market conditions throughout the region and in the

You can read more about Intro 20 and other NYC legislation at

private sector, according to Robert Kulikowski, Director of New

the City Council website – www.nyccouncil.info.

York City’s Ofﬁce of Environmental Coordination (OEC). The OEC serves an important role in directing and implementing the

NOTES:

Mayoral and Council directives.

New York City’s annual operating budget is over $50 billion (larger than 48 States’ budgets combined), a ﬁgure projected to increase in the coming years due to anticipated surpluses. City Council, which oversees the allocation of this budget, currently has the resources and convictions to leave an impressive environmental

NYC Comptroller, 2004. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Online www.rggi.org. 3 Sanders, 2005. 4 City of New York, 2004. 5 NYCEDC, 2004 p. 47. 6 NYC Comptroller, 2004. 7 New York City Ofﬁce of Environmental Coordination Online www.nyc.gov/html/oec/ downloads/pdf/sustainable_nyc_ﬁnal.pdf. 8 New York City Council Online. www.nyccitycouncil.info. 2

The Tipping Point

URBAN

CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? Starting A Conversation Between Planners, Architects, And Urban Designers

BY MATT LEAVELL

t is difﬁcult to understand the underlying tension between

urban designer variety, but rather an issue-based conversation

architects, urban designers, and planners. The three

working towards a conﬂuence of the professions.

professions discuss similar issues: gentriﬁcation, housing,

For example, suburban sprawl is an ever-present issue in the

urban form, social equity. However, an element of discomfort

ongoing urban dialogue. Architects might argue that the solution

inhibits the potential for conversations across disciplines.

can be found in better buildings. Urban designers might stand

Although the origin of this discomfort is unclear, there is evidence

behind Andres Duany and ﬁght for improved aesthetic standards

of past discord contributed to the creation of professional barriers.

for development. Planners may state that they are not the ones

I believe that students, especially graduate planning students, are

that know the answers, but are the conduits for the community.

in a favorable position to affect future development in all three

Each is a plausible, well-reasoned statement suggesting possible

professions by engaging in cross-disciplinary conversations.

solutions for sprawl, solutions that should be evaluated in relation to one another.

Where does this conversation happen in GSAPP?

In light of the fact that there is no solution to sprawl acceptable to all three professions, we need to ask ourselves why

A critical mass of interest is needed to force a cross-

a more interconnected conversation between the disciplines

disciplinary conversation. However, the interaction between the

is not occurring. Is the conversation disjointed because of the

disciplines cannot be of the architect-versus-planner-versus-

different ideological theories behind each discipline, or has some

URBAN

The Tipping Point

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

ISLAND OF BURANO IN VENICE, ITALY BY RICH BARONE

inherent problem in the evolution of the disciplines prompted

that planners are in the best position to start the dialogue.

the rejection of an interdisciplinary method?

Since the planner’s professional role is broadly deﬁned, we as

Perhaps each of these professions takes into consideration

graduate planning students

the issues of the others, but still each relies heavily on normative

receive a diverse education

values inherent to their chosen ﬁeld. These assumptions lie at

giving us the tools to create

the root of the tension between the professions, despite the fact

ideas and the methods to

that each profession’s specialization and knowledge compliment

implement them. Planning

the others and encourage more informed solutions.

education necessitates that

Planning education necessitates that we think about all forms and components of a cityʼs fabric, including housing, infrastructure, policy, and environment.

Within the conﬁnes of this school, free from the limits of

we think about all forms

the real world, students have the ability to ﬁnd opportunities

and components of a city’s

for their disciplines to work together. Rather than validating the

fabric, including housing,

reasoning behind the answers of any single profession, we can

infrastructure, policy, and

look for answers in the voids and overlaps between them. The

environment. This panoptic

value within the university experience can be found in the search

approach allows planners to have conversations that lead to new

for those opportunities.

means of change involving all professions, not just architecture,

At Columbia University there are several places where these

planning, and design.

conversations could easily take place: interdisciplinary classes

Outside of the classroom, I encourage planning students to

and studios, research papers, and lectures. At the numerous

explore the urban planning-designing conversation on http://

social events, simple, casual conversation between architects,

groups.google.com/group/planning-and-architecture.

planners, and urban designers could lead to enormous change.

Or better yet, go to 6-on-6 and talk to other GSAPP students.

For this potential to be realized, concentrated effort and active

These conversations need to come out of the studios and into the

participation must be made on the part of the students. Only

hallways and across campus. Planners are uniquely positioned

then can we break the stereotype prescribed to each discipline.

to do just that. ●

Being a student, especially a graduate student, places each of us in a unique position to push the boundaries in ways that the faculty and administration cannot. While the number of

NOTES:

planners at GSAPP is small compared to those in architecture

programs (39.5% of GSAPP students are in the architecture or urban design program, while only 8.7% are planners)1, I argue

“Columbia University Fall Admissions Statistics and Ratios by Level, School, and Program 2003-2005”. Columbia University Statistical Abstract. September 05, 2006. Accessed: October 08, 2006 <http://www.columbia.edu/cu/opir/abstract/admissions_ 2005.html>.

The Tipping Point

URBAN

ROCK THE BOAT

Our Faculty Respond To A Stirring Question

URBAN magazine solicited faculty responses to the question: “If you could tip something, what would you tip?” After a few clarifying emails, we received a wealth of responses. They range from the practical (garbage collection) to the abstract (street-corner politics), but all serve to highlight the wealth of issues waiting for a nudge or a shove.

BOB BEAUREGARD

to fall disproportionately on the black population. Segregation

The ﬁrst, democratic, multi-racial election in South Africa in

has persisted. Moreover, the African National Congress (ANC)

1994 brought with it the hope that an inclusive democracy would

has worked to maintain a one-party state. My fear is that South

enable the country to erase inequalities of income, access to

Africa will tip into an authoritarian state managed by a black

housing and education, health care, and employment that were

elite more concerned with self-aggrandizement and the global

deeply inscribed in the racial landscape. Government would be

imperatives of capitalism than with the quality of life of the

inclusive and accountable, and governmental planning would

majority of the country’s residents. My hope is that it will tip the

no longer be a tool for racial segregation. Over ten years later,

other way, with democracy robust and the government actively

poverty, unemployment, slums, and (now) HIV/AIDS continue

engaged in bringing about social justice.

URBAN

The Tipping Point

MICHAEL FISHMAN To fast track the Mayor’s plan to reactivate the Marine Waste Transfer System is what I want to move to the tipping point. The following related endeavors could also use some tipping: - Equitable distribution of facilities based on waste out-puts; - Sorting, compacting, composting and recycling with maximum efficiency; - Greening the DOS fleet of vehicles; - Greening the barge fleet of vehicles. - Eliminating on-street queues and idling trucks; and - Minimizing truck trips with parking, maintenance, and routing strategies. Since you asked, the question also makes me think of my Nana’s favorite deli meat...tip tongue. It is relevant (tangentially) as I have nostalgia for the NY-style delis whose tipping point (out of existence) has come over the last 15-20 years. The 2nd Avenue

a New York City population growing to new heights, we will all be stuck in the mud! For example, since 1927 a Second Avenue subway has been discussed and studied numerous times and may finally get implemented in the next quarter century, almost 100 years later. Eastside access at Grand Central Terminal was first approved as part of a 1966 bond issue and may get fully implemented by 2012, almost 50 years later. These are pathetic results given the productivity of world cities in Europe, Asia and South America. The extension of the Number 7 subway line to the far-west side of midtown, rail to the airports, Metro North to Penn Station, the second passenger tunnel under the Hudson River to Penn Station, and Moynihan Station, among many other transit megaprojects cannot be wasted with mere studies. Let’s get back on track and start attending ribbon cuttings and not just scoping meetings. Let’s find a balance between autocracy and democracy and start building big infrastructure again. (continued on next page)

Deli sitting vacant in the East Village is a signal to us that all that tipping points have their consequences. Nana is going to be 88 this year and still orders tip tongue on rye with some mustard, when she can ﬁnd it...

SIGURD GRAVA I am sure that my colleagues will propose to tip society and communities into a higher state of beauty, justice, and efficiency. To the best of my knowledge, however, the word “tip” (besides the tip of an iceberg) is only used in city building and management to describe the deposit of collected solid waste into disposal sites, for which a tipping fee is collected. There will always be garbage! And we are the keepers of it! My proposal is to dramatically increase all tipping fees, thereby using them as the instrument to reform the entire production and distribution chain of our effluent society. This would apply particularly to consumer products. For example, disposable, single-use items that make our lives more convenient (from paper towels to flow pens) would have to be made of materials that disappear easily. Complex and large things, such as automobiles, would have to be so designed that they can be readily taken apart at the end and various materials segregated. Wrappers and packaging materials, the scourge of our civilization, would be replaced by thin but tough films that burn harmlessly or disintegrate elegantly. None of these ideas are original. Incremental efforts do not work, and programs have to be organized into comprehensive systems with teeth. The high tipping fees would compel

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

compliance. I tip my hat to you!

FLOYD LAPP If I could tip something it would be the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, so that projects that they have been

CLEANING STREETS AND RIDING BIKES ON BROOKLYN WALLS BY KAY CHENG

studying for decades ﬁnally get implemented. Otherwise, with

The Tipping Point

URBAN

comprehensive mix of social, economic, and ecological goals. In last week’s Nature Now conference, one faculty member mentioned that he thought that landscape architects were doing more relevant work for city planning than even urban planners or architects at this time, and I know what he means -- this aspect is still too absent in our pedagogy.

SMITA SRINIVAS Street-level politics and bureaucrats are the stuff of life. So are health needs, education, childcare, maternity, and old-age care. Dominant theories of economic and industrial development tell us that such social needs will be met as countries get richer, more democratic, or technologically advanced. While higher income and higher social and health benefits are correlated, it is a challenge to show causation. Indeed, there are examples of health and social policy provisions that have come about in less economically-well-off circumstances. Mumford, writing “Paleotechnic Paradise: Coketown”, referred not only to the pressures that industrial living created, but also to the ceding, by workers and urban governing bodies, of authority and privilege to manufacture, and to “the creation of a state of permanent insecurity for the working classes...” Street politics has always been critical to “institutional tipping” in defining and enhancing benefits. No doubt they existed in the proverbial Coketown as well but did not lead to better outcomes. Planners deal more directly perhaps than any other academic group with the theory and practice of street politics. The creation of these tipping points at street-corners, in homes, workplaces, and meeting houses, should provide clues about the PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

HALLWAY BY SETH HOSTETTER

introduction, regulation, and implementation of social policies. We can do some tipping of our own in universities to focus on these phenomena. For universal basic beneﬁts, much more momentum than tipping (more like a good push) would be welcome. And for an invigorating social encounter mixed with research? Give me a street corner over a national policy meeting any day.

TOM WRIGHT This is a provocative question. The inclination is to think Big

JOYCE ROSENTHAL

– push for sustainable design, more equitable distribution of

My hope is to transform the pedagogy of urban planning.

the world’s resources, or making cars pay for the real costs they

If our work as planners is to ﬁll in the rhetoric of sustainable

impose on society. But given my recent work, I’m going to say

development, and we wish to attend to the goals of justice, then

that if I could “tip” anything, it would be Newark, which stands at

there is a base level of ecological literacy for urban planning

the point of becoming a wonderful city. I know this may surprise

students that should be taught in graduate courses.

people, but Newark has more unrealized potential than any city in

These days, the special purview of the planning role in neo-

America. It has committed citizens and corporations, rich history

liberal free-market democracies requires at least a minimal

and civic institutions, incredible infrastructure, and a growing

knowledge of ecological processes as a platform to stand on in an

port, and now -- ﬁnally -- enlightened and capable leadership.

uncertain future. This need not be painful nor replace essential

The new mayor, Cory Booker, is bringing all the positive lessons

core topics, and could be infused into case studies and sectors.

of the past 15 years of urban revitalization to bear on one of the

Why cede all the fun to landscape architects? Some current

most intractable urban situations in the country. And if we can

projects on ecological infrastructure and design strategies for

tip Newark to become a prosperous, equitable, sustainable city,

community-based projects are bringing together an exciting and

we can do it anywhere. ●

URBAN

The Tipping Point

THE FAMILY The Amazing Biographies Of The Urban Planning Student Body

We at URBAN read this year’s biographies expecting to learn where everybody had gone to college and what everyone’s pet planning issue is... But, oh, we learned so much more. Here’s a sneak peak: Ryan is incandescent, Yoav played for the Nets, and Monica loves dirt. These biographies may help you to start some of those elusive cross-year conversations or, at the very least, give you something to say to the people you always talk to...

FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS Leslie Alba was born and raised in

Astoria, Queens. She attended high school in Manhattan at Dominican Academy and then spent four years in rural upstate New York while attending Colgate University. She has always been interested in cities, the characteristics of regions, and the complexities of human relationships with the environment. As a geography major at Colgate, she had a chance to explore these subjects. In her desire to continue that exploration, she is now a ﬁrst-year urban planning student at Columbia.

Including the hamlet of Boulder from

Austenites. He graduated from UNC-

which he hails, Gavin Browning has lived

Chapel Hill in 2002 with degrees in

in four places beginning with the letter B:

political science and Spanish. Thereafter,

Brooklyn, Berlin, Brighton. Now happily

he spent a year in the Jesuit Volunteer

ensconced in Long Island City (ending the

Corps in San Francisco, where he worked

B hegemony), he wonders if Los Angeles,

as a labor advocate for low-income

London, or Lahore await. He worked in

restaurant workers in the Mission district.

independent book publishing for a very

He has also worked at Brooklyn Jesuit

long time, and can often be seen reading.

Prep in Crown Heights, teaching social studies, coaching basketball, and most

Cristina Cabrera graduated from American

frequently attempting conﬂict resolution.

University School of Public Affairs in 1998.

He is interested in planning for and

In 1997, she circled the globe with Semester

empowering healthier urban communities

at Sea, and the environmental degradation

that struggle with the weight of poverty.

she saw motivated her to pursue a Master’s in Environmental Management in Puerto

Basha

After receiving a BA in Art History, Marc

Rico. She then worked for Yale’s School

planning for a better world, and chocolate

Estroff

Blayer (aka Marcus or Moti) served cheap

of Forestry and Environmental Studies,

chip cookies. She has a BFA for the ﬁrst in

mussels and beer, and backpacked around

researching nascent industrial ecosystems

historic preservation, is working on her

the Mediterranean. He later paddled across

in Puerto Rico. She’s at Columbia to learn

MS for the second, and hopes you can all

the Black Sea in a canoe, studied the heart

how to manage a real-estate business while

help with the third.

rate of the three toed sloth, and had a

preserving the island’s environment.

loves

old

buildings,

Jennifer Ewing spent the past few years

passionate relationship with his left sleeve. He plans to do his thesis on the various

Matthew Crosby is two meters tall,

racking up stamps in her passport while

shades of white used in street markings.

which is the median height of his fellow

living in New Zealand and then Germany.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

RAILWAYS AND BRIDGES IN PORTLAND, OREGON BY JEZRA THOMPSON

After spending a little too much time in

bags for Tinseltown where she joined the

Alison Laichter just moved back to NYC

corporate America, she shed all of her

Bruin family and subscribed to Garﬁnkel’s

from the Bay Area where she spent the

belongings and left the U.S. in search

ethnomethodology. After spending a few

past few years analyzing demographic

of adventure and direction. She hopes

years developing brands and corrupting

and

to somehow bring together her past

consumers’ minds in advertising, she

planning consulting ﬁrm, getting lost in

experiences in her new career as a planner.

decided it was time for a change. So she

the redwoods, directing workshops about

traded her bimmer for a subway pass, her

Brownﬁeld redevelopment, writing real

Maggie Grady is from St. Louis and

suit for a student id, and leaped back into

estate gossip, and working as a “juice diva”

graduated from Haverford College with

the open arms of academia.

at the only completely organic juice bar in

a degree in political science, and peace

economic

trends

for

urban

San Francisco.

and conﬂict studies. She taught at an

Ben Harwood was born to a nice Jewish

international school in Shanghai, China

family in Detroit who taught him humanism,

Sara Levenson spells her name without an

before coming to Columbia. She spends

tap dance, and boogie-woogie piano. A

“H”, so watch it. She grew up in Brooklyn

her free time trying to ﬁnd the best cupcake

stint at a Nepali monastery inspired the

and then attended Clark University

in New York.

lad to found a vegetarian cooking team,

where she played lacrosse like a virgin

student food co-op, sustainable living

and scored like a...well anyway. She has

After an illustrious career as a general with

center, and eco-consultancy ‘Eco-Logic.’

a thing for guys that look like James

the 3rd battalion in the Union Army, Yoav

Ben also enjoys hard work and levity.

Vanderbeek. She recently learned the art

Hagler returned to Brooklyn to play with

of omelet flipping and is kind of a big deal

his hometown Brooklyn Nets. Following a

Nasozi Kakemba always has a song stuck

second illustrious career as point guard for

in her head. It is usually samba or the last

the Nets, Yoav decided to retire and return

song she heard on 103.5 FM. She loves

After receiving a BA at Barnard College,

to school to earn a Master’s in Urban

dancing on furniture. In her spare time she

Samantha Magistro

Planning at a University that he helped

takes guitar lessons from a hot Rasta. Born

Real Estate as an Assistant Project Manager.

found several hundred years earlier.

to a Ugandan father and African-Cherokee-

During the next two years, Samantha not

German mother, she has an innate penchant

only developed affordable housing, but also

Growing up an only child in sunny

for travel and exploration. Much loan debt

learned all about saving excel spreadsheets,

San Diego, Leigh Harvey (no relation,

later, she will jet-set around the world

alternate-side-of-the-street parking, and

afﬁliation, or afﬁnity to any assassin)

exploiting the intuition and prescience she

getting back to Manhattan on a Yankees’

spent her adolescence hand-springing

will acquire in the wonderful microcosm of

game day. Samantha enjoys open market

and horseback riding. She packed her

GSAPP, Urban Planning.

rentals, world peace, business lunches on

URBAN

Generally Speaking

when it comes to GIS.

joined Bronx Pro

Arthur Avenue, and playing UNO with her

Matthew J. Roe spent the ﬁrst year of

The happy result of a one-night stand

favorite neighbors.

his life at Columbia’s Butler Hall – which

between Jack Kerouac and a pretty French

might explain some things about him.

brunette, Jezra Thompson adopted a

Originally from Georgia Republic, Alex

He has since lived in Brooklyn, NY,

nomadic lifestyle after getting her BFA

Maisuradze has a degree in Economics

Middletown CT, and Brooklyn again.

in architecture from UMass, Amherst.

from Vanderbilt University. He came to

He’s been part of the National Trust

She enjoys good beer and the company of

Columbia from Haiti, where he spent

for

Brooklyn’s

dreamers, hot boys, and other badasses.

eighteen months with the UN mission, most

Community Board 6, and now the New

At Columbia, Jezra will spend a lot of time

of the time stranded in daily commutes to

York City Department of Transportation.

learning about community redevelopment

and from work. This is where he realized

Matthew enjoys street food, worldwide

and pretending to be an eastcoaster. Jezra

that none of the economics really made

transit adventures, and NYC trivia.

would like everyone to know that not all

Historic

Preservation,

sense and planning was da thing. In his

those who wander are lost.

free time he enjoys making up captions

Juan

Francisco

Saldarriaga

for New Yorker cartoons, though none of

philosopher from Bogotá, Colombia who

Rob Viola (BA North American Studies,

them have made it to the ﬁnalists, yet.

sort of got tired of living in the stratosphere

McGill) has lived in New York City for

and wanted to come back to earth. He

almost ten years, staying busy playing

In a past life, Shane Muchow worked as a

has traveled a lot through Europe, Asia,

in rock bands and doing everything

ﬁlmmaker and video editor in Hong Kong,

and Australia, and lived in France for

from client services to software design

San Francisco, and Seattle. After starring

three years. Although he often dreams of

within the internet sector. He currently

in a Hong Kong commercial eating noodle

running away into the mountains, right

resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn with his

soup with cuttleﬁsh wontons and eyeballs,

now he is more interested in improving

wife and daughter.

Shane decided to pursue his goal of guiding

Colombian cities. Originally from the DC area, Dana Waits

urban development projects. Rene

Salinas

Monterrey,

moved to New York to attend NYU in 1999.

Minna Ninova escaped Communist rule

Mexico. Before coming to Columbia, he

While an undergrad, she spent a semester

in Bulgaria with dreams of Capitalist

spent three years working in the Urban

in Florence and then studied “abroad” in

indulgences,

well-stocked

from

grocery

Planning Agency of Nuevo Leon where

Oxford (Mississippi, not England) where

shelves. Armed with a dual degree in political

he saw ﬁrsthand the pressing need for

she developed a taste for sweet tea, Elvis,

science and French from UCLA, Minna tried

good planners in his country. Working

and SEC football. Since college, she worked

to stir up trouble in Washington, DC for a

for the government made him aware of

for the Central Park Conservancy selling

while but, failing that, she turned to urban

the political issues in Mexico. His main

benches and snowplowing. She claims to

planning in the hopes of ﬁguring out the

hobbies are watching movies, painting,

know everything about Central Park and

world and/or urban sprawl. She especially

and partying.

dares you to stump her.

enjoys lingering in the dairy aisle. Sonal Shah is an architect from India. Her

Caitlin

Kristin Niver is a very nice girl. She enjoys

work is based in Mumbai, a city that breeds

dichotomous “city” of Fairbanks, Alaska.

drinking tea and using teeth whitener. The

chaos, tactics, corruption, immorality, and

Since escaping, she has obtained a BA

convulsions! Don’t hesitate to interrupt

all that is dark. That’s why she loves it!

in Anthropology and a BMus in Violin

her convulsions.

Sonal worked on slum settlements, public

Performance from Boston University,

housing and urban renewal projects, and

become a corporate pawn to pay the rent,

Diana Pangestu hails from Chino Hills,

she is interested studying the City through

sailed from Tahiti to Hawaii on a 130-foot

a suburb of the super suburb, L.A. She

informal and tactical systems.

steel brigantine while studying noxious

is known as many things: daring, black

Warbelow

hails

from

the

bacteria, worked as a plankton slave/

sheep, smart, funny, lover of metrosexual

“Michelle, ma belle...” Yes, that annoying

bird butt poker on a research boat in the

men. Diana came to the realization of

Beatles’ song is where it all started. Since

Aleutians, and taught young’uns to play

urban planning after spending time in the

then, Michelle Tabet has lived in Paris,

violin. Way too excited about the amount

backwoods of Montana. (She was escaping

studied in London and Berlin, has a

of Irish music happening in dingy bars

the 9 to 5, ﬂorescent-lighted corporate

passion for Beirut, and loves living in New

at all hours of the night, you can usually

world.) As a former real estate development

York City. Being a bit of a city-hopper,

ﬁnd her in 202 Fayerweather frantically

analyst and US Forest Ranger, Diana hopes

Michelle enjoys comparing the arts scene,

making GIS maps and regretting saying

to merge nature and cities together to create

culinary landscape, and night-life of the

yes to that all-too-common phrase, “just

City Beautiful Movement, The Sequel.

world’s global cities.

one more tune”.

Generally Speaking

URBAN

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

JERUSALEM BY SUMMER LEE

Pepper Watkins is a joint degree student in

urban planning and historic preservation. Raised in a log cabin on a farm in Virginia, he is interested in rural planning and vernacular architecture, and is an avid bluegrass/old-time/country

blues/gypsy

jazz musician. Pepper graduated from UVa in 2004 with a BA in Spanish. Sharon Weiner grew up in the renowned

urban laboratory of Chicago. She received her B.S. in Science, Technology, and Society from Stanford and worked in Illinois Early

SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS Monica

Bansal

loves

New

Growing up in rural Western North Carolina, Alyssa Boyer became naturally York,

modern things, and all urban whatevers.

attracted to settings more cosmopolitan and stimulating than rural Western North

Unfortunately for her, she loves dirt and

Carolina. After some valuable international

trees and water and clean air more. She still

and NYC work experience in things she did

has faith that the two dichotomous loves

not want to do, Alyssa decided while in El

can be reconciled into some magical utopia

Alto, Bolivia, that working in water and

of human existence. Or else you can think

sanitation was something she did want to

of her fondly when she abandons the glam

do. Alyssa realized that a degree in urban

of the greatest city in the world for a life as a

planning was for her when she learned

recluse in the majestic hills of somewhere.

there were far more guys in the GSAPP building than at Teacher’s College.

Intervention prior to returning to school.

A native son of the “Garden State”,

She is a dual degree student with the school

Rich Barone received his BS in Labor

of public health and is fascinated by various

& Industrial Relations from Penn State

ways in which the built environment shapes

University with a minor in Information

political science at Miami University (in

health outcomes...She also moonlights as a

Systems. Utilizing his strong background

Ohio, not Florida). After that, she worked

ballet dancer.

in technology, he is very interested in

as a policy advisor for two Congressmen,

Amy

Boyle studied architecture and

examining technology’s relationship with

specializing in transportation, energy,

Though deathly allergic to cold, Lien-

the inhabitants of urban communities,

environment, and land use issues. Now

Feng Wong found his way to NYC three

speciﬁcally, how the two can co-exist in

she’s at Columbia to get a joint degree

years ago. Through his urban sociology

a more organic way. He is also interested

in urban planning and business, which

program at Pace University, he developed

in technology’s affect on the pedestrian

she wants to use to save her hometown

a fascination for all things urbane,

experience

His

of Cleveland. You will usually ﬁnd Amy

especially people, and is interested in the

Master’s Thesis will focus on the impacts of

walking around New York looking for

principles of place-making and building of

emerging technologies on the MTA’s transit

yummy food. She is particularly fond of

home cities.

riders and employees in New York City.

ice cream and cupcakes.

URBAN

Generally Speaking

and

transportation.

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

THROUGH THE STUDIO LOOKING GLASS BY MATT LEAVELL

Esther Brunner: born in spring. on a

at the same time. She is interested in

becoming a little too similar to the movie

sunday. in zurich switzerland. they say

infrastructure and disaster management,

“Ofﬁce Space.” Tired of cake parties and

it brings you luck to be born on a sunday.

and has a new found love of urban

ﬁghting for Swingline staplers, she ﬂed

loves cherry trees in spring and dark sounds.

economics, too.

to the Big Apple to pursue her interest in studying urban planning.

spent some time acting. favorite color: black. worked for four years as a landscape

Candy Chang recommends you listen to

architect. got sick of design. had more

the soothing voice of Robert Redford and

questions. moved to NYC. does not like

feel womb-like at the Cosmic Collisions

snow. adores the NYC blue sky winter and

show in the Museum of Natural History,

central park. is passionate about books. is

marvel at the years of street art on 11 Spring

excited about communication. loves cooking

Street before the building is converted into

and green markets. coughs when she’s

condos, play Frogger at Barcade for 25

nervous. does not have a tv. does not have

cents, eat sticky rice and dim sum at Triple

a driver’s license. is obsessed by her internet

8, drink mojitos with fresh sugarcane at

connection. favorite NYC icon: chrysler

Paladar, feel wholesome on Governor’s

building. the swiss thing she misses: silence.

Island, feel eery on Roosevelt Island, own

loves art, site speciﬁc performances and ﬂea

a copy of An Incomplete Education, and

markets. her brain is overloaded. sometimes.

watch the stupendously amazing New

and now. likes to dream.

York: A Documentary Film over and over and over again.

Rob

Cunningham

spent

four

years

living car-free in the world of capital car culture, Southern California. In the process he developed varied interests in the relationships between urban form, lifestyle, the environment, and quality of life in general. So after getting his BA in philosophy, riding his bike around Iceland, teaching English in Prague, diving across the country, battling polar bears in Svalbard, and getting a tan in Brazil, he came to Columbia to study urban planning.

Virginia Cava is an engineer working in

construction, with a Graduate Certiﬁcate

After receiving her undergrad diploma

Reuel Daniels has put ending world

from NYU in Construction Management.

signed by the governator, Kay Cheng

poverty on hold and is focusing on even

Before becoming an engineer, Virginia

began working full time as a gloriﬁed mouse

bigger tasks, like writing a thesis, working,

was a nursing student, free-lance science

clicker in the GIS department of Contra

and getting her Master’s all at the same time.

writer, and editor, and designed sets and

Costa County Community Development

In what little free time she has, Reuel enjoys

costumes

dance

Department. She was working for about a

biking throughout the City, hot power yoga,

and theatre productions, not necessarily

year when she began to realize her life was

live music, hiking in the mountains upstate,

for

off-off-Broadway

Generally Speaking

URBAN

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

PUBLIC HOUSING IN RUIRU, KENYA BY KAY CHENG

and walking around New York City eating

to Washington, DC. He spent four years

Lily Langlois hails from the sunny state

cupcakes with Amy Boyle.

working for Congressman Nadler and

of California, the northern half to be

Senator Schumer, answering phones at

speciﬁc, Berkeley to be exact. Her impetus

Serena Deng, from Los Angeles, studied

ﬁrst and later working on transportation

to pursue urban planning inspired by

biology at Berkeley, where she played

issues. He is getting an MBA at Columbia

a four-year stint in Los Angeles and a

African drums for course credit and

Business School, too.

forty-hour bus ride. Since then, she has

embraced

vegetarianism.

After

years

of community work in Oakland, a land of cheap, meaty foods, she renounced vegetarianism. Now living in Brooklyn, she happily buys local organic meat at her food coop. Yannis

spent the last two years traversing the Jennifer Jacobs Guzmán is a second-

year urban planning student, focusing on community development and housing. She is particularly interested in grassroots, bottom-up planning and creating equitable

Evmolpidis

comes

from

Athens, Greece. Thus, he is a fan of the Mediterranean way of living. He spent the last ﬁve years, as an undergrad in spatial planning and regional development, in a smaller city called Volos. He is interested

communities in NYC and elsewhere. This past summer she enjoyed working with Youth Ministries for Peace & Justice, a great community organization in the Bronx. She is proud to be on the last phase of toilet training her two cats.

in combining urban planning with real

country coast-to-coast in search of ﬁne buildings, transportation networks, and Jeff Tweedy. Matt Leavell is an architect who envisions

world

which

planners

and

architects can be friends and play in the same sandbox. A displaced Southern gentleman, Matt hails from Alabama and went to college at Auburn University. Before coming to Columbia, Matt lived in Boston where he slaved over a desk in an architecture ﬁrm.

estate and he loves soccer, snowboarding,

Anna Kleppert has found Seattle-worthy

punk-ska music, and going out.

espresso, has stopped playing guitar, still

Joseph Moreno spent his undergraduate

loves the rain, doesn’t really miss her

years living in Butler library and has

Jonathan Flaherty was born and raised in

Space Needle, still has an afﬁnity for serial

returned for Round Two! Shortly after

Manhattan. Knowing New York would call

killing, and deﬁnitely regularly orders

graduation, he spent two years in the

him back eventually, he decided to check

salmon. She holds it down with her cat

24-7 political world of Washington, DC.

out rural life at Kenyon College in the

Ryan on the same mob block in Brooklyn

Foolishly hoping to one day create a

Middle-of-Nowhere, Ohio. It was lots of

as last year, though Ryan has increasingly

more equitable city where the little guy

fun despite having only ONE bar. During

become quite irritated with the presence

has a voice at the table, he has decided

his stint in Ohio, he was bitten badly by

of the apartment’s latest addition: Anna’s

to pursue an urban planning degree.

the politics bug, and after school migrated

boyfriend Hank.

Although he loves New York and all its

URBAN

Generally Speaking

PHOTO COMPETITION FINALIST

SUNSET AT SUGAR LOAF MOUNTAIN IN RIO DE JANEIRO BY KARIN SOMMER

glory, deep down, he could never betray

make some people sicker than others and

trouble. The former she conveniently

his Jersey roots.

righting the injustice. Prior to Columbia

avoids, instead using “purse” or “sack.”

she worked for a public health research

The latter, however, is not so easy to escape

Clare Newman begins her second year

and consulting ﬁrm in San Francisco. She

in New York City. Especially when living

at GSAPP older, wiser, and poorer. While

enjoys giant burritos paired with long

in New York City on a student’s budget.

school and work occupy much of her time,

naps, live music, and yoga.

Nonetheless, she enjoys New York, having

her true passions are solid high-ﬁves, crosswords

(always

crosswords),

and

grey’s anatomy. A lofty list indeed. Upon graduation, she will embark on a quest to ﬁnd a job where she can ﬁnally apply these long-squandered talents. Peri Platanias comes from Athens, Greece

where he received his undergrad degree. After 1 year working in a planning ﬁrm he decided that he needs a break from the professional life as if he had enough of it. So he decided to come to New York where he has the opportunity to experience the ultimate urban environment. He is

interested

transportation

and

come here after stints in Minnesota, Heather

Roiter

originates

from

the

‘burbs of Chicago and graduated from the

Marnie Purciel is currently in her third

again for college.

University of Wisconsin. She spent her time studying demography, but realized

Tony

human interaction was a little more

drinking Ouzo in Greece, looking at

entertaining. She hopes to use her degree

Michelangelo’s penis in Italy, scaling the

to prepare the world for the inevitable

Eiffel Tower in France, working on his

effects of global warming. But if disaster

tan in Spain, and exploring the Tube in

planning doesn’t work out she can always

the UK. He has decided he will move to

become a professional wino. She had a

Europe before returning to his hometown,

stint where she left the cheese state for

San Francisco!

Tolentino

spent

the

summer

the cheese country of the Netherlands and fondly thinks of it every day. Living in New Amsterdam helps ﬁll the void.

physical planning. Having an engineering background, he ﬂirts with development.

Montana, Nebraska, and then Minnesota

Kate Sargent likes transportation, cycling,

Ryan Walsh is amazing. He is dynamic,

charismatic,

brilliant,

luminous,

and

incandescent. This publication does not use the term genius lightly. In this case,

knitting, wine, the crunch of fall leaves and

an exception must be made. Ryan Walsh

girls. That pretty much sums it up.

is a genius. If this is being read online

and ﬁnal year of Columbia’s urban

by a potential employer or an internet

planning and public health joint masters’

At one time in her life, Karin Sommer

stalker, there is no candidate more worthy

program. The two programs have allowed

had a very strong Minnesota accent. Now

of your employ or stalking. Also, he’s into

her to pursue her idealistic goals of

her accent is almost gone, although words

transportation and infrastructure and

understanding what it is about cities that

like “bag” and “bagel” continue to cause

international stuff. ●

Generally Speaking

URBAN

T H E FA L L 2 0 0 6 驶 M A S T E R O F O U R V I S U A L U N I V E R S E 始 P H O TO C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N E R

TIPPING ON SEE-SAWS IN POTSDAMER PLATZ, BERLIN, GERMANY BY RICH BARONE

URBAN

Generally Speaking

URBAN