Design as a Competitive Advantage for Cities

Design is a too-often overlooked asset that adds value to cities.

1 minute read

August 15, 2004, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


Smart City radio show host Carol Coletta examines how design work to make cities more lively, more livable and more sustainable. Coletta interviewsMarie-Josée Lacroix and Mark Miller about how they use design as a competitive advantage for cities.

Marie-Josée Lacroix is the City of Montreal's Design Commissioner. For the past 15 years, she has been encouraging outstanding design in the city's shops and restaurants through an annual design competition that she hopes will make Montreal a "new design city."

Mark Miller is working on the redesign of schools - specifically those modular buildings that are supposed to be temporary classrooms but too often become permanent fixtures. With the new designs for classroom portables proposed by his firm, MKThink, no one would mind if these classrooms stayed around forever.

Listen live on the Web Saturdays at 8 a.m. and Sundays at noon.

Thanks to Laura Kranz

Friday, August 13, 2004 in Smart City

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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