REDESIGNING CITIES: The Speedwell Foundation Talks @ Georgia Tech School of Architecture, Ellen Dunham-Jon

How have youth organizations in disinvested neighborhoods reinvigorated models of democratic citizenship and collective life? Can the exercise of collective agency in the physical space of “the commons” provide young people with the practical skills to engage with today’s economic, racial, and ecological crises? Dr. Sharon Egretta Sutton’s newest and sixth book, Pedagogy of a Beloved Commons: Pursuing Democracy's Promise Through Place-Based Activism, makes that case and we discuss her research on how urban design and urban designers can empower the disenfranchised.

As urban population growth across the globe continues to sprawl outwards, how do we promote healthier development patterns in diverse economies and cultures? With a particular focus on corridors, Peter Calthorpe presents the strategies he developed in association with the World Bank to address the three dominant types of sprawl: high-income sprawl as found in the US, low-income sprawl as found in Mexico, and high-density sprawl as found in China.  A prolific author, visionary urban designer, and impactful advocate for linking sustainable growth and policy, Peter Calthorpe delivered this year’s Georgia Tech TSW Lecture, followed by a conversation with Professor Ellen Dunham-Jones.

Episode 35_Gil Penalosa

Redesigning SuburbsHow and where are North American suburbs being redesigned to address dramatically changing demographics, technology, market preferences, and climates? The pandemic and Work-From-Home accelerated earlier trends of the urbanization of dead malls and office parks. But they also renewed leapfrog exurban development. Join this conversation between academic host Ellen Dunham-Jones who researches suburban retrofits, and David Dixon FAIA, an award-winning professional who designs and documents them. Vice President and Urban Places Fellow with Stantec, David co-edited Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places (2018) and co-authored Design for an Urban Century (Wiley, 2015). Residential Architecture Magazine named David to their Hall of Fame as “the person we call to ask about cities.”

Redesigning Cities for the 2nd Global Urban RevolutionWhat does it mean for humanity that we are transitioning from a rural to an urban species? This is the fundamental question that Professor Robert Fishman is exploring. Professor Emeritus from the University of Michigan, he was trained as an urban historian at Stanford and Harvard, and is the author of the highly influential books Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier and Bourgeois Utopias: the Rise and Fall of Suburbia.

What Transit Modes Where?New modes of getting around are exploding. Now, in addition to fixed rail, bus, and streetcar, smartphones and algorithms have expanded on-demand mobility such as microtransit vans, scooters, and e-bike rentals. Some of our streets already have robotaxis and AV shuttles. Will the skies soon include podcars and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)? What kind of city, social equity, and neighborhood form do these different modes shape? In Atlanta, the Beltline is a 22-mile trail loop that has proven the popularity of walkability and bike-oriented development but promised to include future transit. Should that transit continue the city’s historic but troubled investment in streetcars or bet on emerging technologies like AV shuttles? How should such decisions be made about what transit goes where and what kind of city we want? Features Tejas Santanam, Eric Kronberg, and Rebecca Serna.