The Transformation of our Cities

'I'm pretty convinced we're in the midst of a transformation which is probably as profound as what happened immediately after the Second World War,' says planner Ken Greenberg in an interview in Metropolis.

1 minute read

January 25, 2010, 2:00 PM PST

By Tim Halbur


"GREENBERG: Almost everything that we've inherited and put into practice in the post-WWII decades has in some way become obsolete. First of all, the way we divided the tasks up: the enormous prominence that we gave to traffic engineers in laying cities out because traffic was such a major concern; the way other modes of travel were sidelined. There is also a huge issue of cities reequipping themselves for cycling as a serious means of transportation.

Zoning, as a tool, is essentially about separating things. Now we talk about mixed used zoning, but we are still trying to use a hammer to turn a screw."

Monday, January 25, 2010 in Metropolis Magazine

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