An Interview With Alexander Garvin

The 62-year-old Garvin, who teaches urban planning at Yale University, is a New York City planning commissioner and until last year was vice president for planning, design and development for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.: "One reason we all want to have a great public realm - the streets, parks and public buildings that tie a city together - is so that property owners nearby will want to invest in the city, to generate a widespread and sustained private market. Also, this money spent on the public realm is going to be spent anyway."