In this episode of PlanningxChange, Jess Noonan and Peter Jewell are joined by Stefanos Polyzoides, Professor of Architecture and Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame. Stefanos is also one of the founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism and has spent much of his career considering urban design, traditional urbanism, regeneration and the repair of cities. The discussion looks at the challenges facing post-industrial cities that have experienced long-term losses of employment, population and economic purpose. Stefanos discusses the effects of deindustrialisation not only on jobs and wealth, but also on civic institutions, confidence and the physical condition of cities. Drawing particularly on South Bend, Indiana, the conversation considers what may allow declining cities to find a new economic role. Topics include universities and other anchor institutions, political leadership, affordable land and housing, local entrepreneurship, infrastructure and the need for cities to identify assets that distinguish them from other places competing for investment and population. The discussion also considers whether regeneration must necessarily mean renewed population growth. Stefanos suggests that future cities may sometimes need to become smaller and more concentrated, particularly as population decline becomes a wider international issue. This leads to a discussion about walkability, suburban sprawl and whether cities can adapt successfully to a smaller physical and demographic footprint. Peter, Jess and Stefanos also discuss work, craftsmanship and making as sources of both economic and personal identity, including Stefanos's concerns about the decline of traditional building crafts and his scepticism about predictions of a society in which technology removes the need for human work. The conversation then turns to Gary, Indiana, a city created around the steel industry and subsequently affected by technological change, population loss, environmental problems, racial segregation and extensive disinvestment. Stefanos describes regeneration in a place such as Gary as a process rather than a single project, where every intervention matters. Existing social bonds, churches, neighbourhood organisations and community networks are discussed as essential assets. Stefanos reflects on Notre Dame's work in Gary and the importance of first listening to residents rather than arriving with predetermined solutions. The episode concludes with the lessons of twentieth-century urban renewal. Rather than wholesale clearance or the search for a single transformative project, Stefanos argues for a large vision implemented patiently and incrementally, learning from each intervention and building upon the assets that remain. This is the first of two PlanningxChange episodes examining the future of post-industrial cities. In the second, Professor Marianne Cusato of the University of Notre Dame joins Peter and Jess to look much more closely at Gary, Indiana, and the practical work now underway there. Podcast Extra / Culture Corner Stefanos recommends Urbanism as Civic Art: A Handbook of 150 Exemplary German Precedents, edited by Christoph Mäckler in collaboration with Birgit Roth. The book documents examples of urban spaces, courtyards, squares and streets from German cities. Stefanos contributed the introduction. He also recommends ANTA, the journal of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. Jess recommends Liane Moriarty's Big Little Truths, the sequel to Big Little Lies. She also recommends running, having recently completed the 10-kilometre event at the Melbourne Marathon and begun training for a half-marathon in Hobart. Peter recommends J. L. Carr's A Month in the Country, the short 1980 novel about a First World War veteran who spends a summer in a Yorkshire village restoring a medieval church painting. Peter reflects on the book's themes of recovery, community, memory and the rhythms of local life. Stefanos picks up on Peter's recommendation with a final reflection on recovery after shock, and on the importance of sometimes disengaging from media, opening our eyes and learning to see the world immediately around us again.
