ThoughtGallery.org > Book Talk with Alexandros Washburn on ‘The Nature of Urban Design’

Book Talk with Alexandros Washburn on ‘The Nature of Urban Design’

Alexandros Washburn will present his new book The Nature of Urban Design: A New York City Perspective on Resilience. (Island Press).

In this visually rich book Alexandros Washburn redefines urban design by looking at the process and products within the context of rapid urbanization and climate change. The Nature of Urban Design uses real-life examples, drawing heavily from the New York experience, to show how to design beautiful urban spaces that achieve multiple goals and objectives—such as greater resilience, livability and equity—while addressing the political and financial challenges that can accelerate or slow implementation. With examples ranging from the High Line to the post-Sandy recovery of Red Hook, Brooklyn, The Nature of Urban Design shows how a well-designed, well-built city can be the most efficient, equitable, safest, and enriching place on earth.

The Nature of Urban Design will inspire and inform anyone who cares about cities. It provides a framework for participating in the process of change. This includes people who want to become urban designers, particularly students and practitioners in the field of politics, finance and design who help to decide how a city will change.

About Alexandros Washburn

Alexandros Washburn, Assoc. AIA, is the Chief Urban Designer of the City of New York, Department of City Planning. An architect who has worked both in the private and public sector, he also served as Environment and Public Works Advisor to U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then as President of the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation, and then partner of W Architecture and Landscape Architecture LLC.

From individual buildings to the most complex infrastructure projects, he judges success in urban design from the point of view of the pedestrian. In his daily work, he tries to achieve the “quantity of Robert Moses with the quality of Jane Jacobs.” And for this missing link between the human-scale and the mega-project, he turns to another great New Yorker, Fredrick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, for inspiration. He sees the integration of urbanity and ecology as the next great wave in city-building.











When: Mon., Jan. 13, 2014 at 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: Center for Architecture
536 LaGuardia Pl.
212-683-0023
Price: $10; free for members and students
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Alexandros Washburn will present his new book The Nature of Urban Design: A New York City Perspective on Resilience. (Island Press).

In this visually rich book Alexandros Washburn redefines urban design by looking at the process and products within the context of rapid urbanization and climate change. The Nature of Urban Design uses real-life examples, drawing heavily from the New York experience, to show how to design beautiful urban spaces that achieve multiple goals and objectives—such as greater resilience, livability and equity—while addressing the political and financial challenges that can accelerate or slow implementation. With examples ranging from the High Line to the post-Sandy recovery of Red Hook, Brooklyn, The Nature of Urban Design shows how a well-designed, well-built city can be the most efficient, equitable, safest, and enriching place on earth.

The Nature of Urban Design will inspire and inform anyone who cares about cities. It provides a framework for participating in the process of change. This includes people who want to become urban designers, particularly students and practitioners in the field of politics, finance and design who help to decide how a city will change.

About Alexandros Washburn

Alexandros Washburn, Assoc. AIA, is the Chief Urban Designer of the City of New York, Department of City Planning. An architect who has worked both in the private and public sector, he also served as Environment and Public Works Advisor to U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then as President of the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation, and then partner of W Architecture and Landscape Architecture LLC.

From individual buildings to the most complex infrastructure projects, he judges success in urban design from the point of view of the pedestrian. In his daily work, he tries to achieve the “quantity of Robert Moses with the quality of Jane Jacobs.” And for this missing link between the human-scale and the mega-project, he turns to another great New Yorker, Fredrick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, for inspiration. He sees the integration of urbanity and ecology as the next great wave in city-building.

Buy tickets/get more info now