An Ecological Urbanism or a New Urbanism?

Urban Omnibus offers a summary of the recent debate that went down over the future of Harvard's Graduate School of Design concerning urban design, landscape urbanism and new urbanism.

1 minute read

November 21, 2010, 5:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


Detailing arguments from Andres DUany and Alex Krieger, this piece gives a good rundown of the debate.

"It is probably best that these two urbanisms are fighting to dominate intellectual territory of urban design, for both will be necessary to promote real sustainable solutions. This was made quite clear when Duany suggested that the best use for Ecological Urbanism was biophilia: greening buildings to make them more aesthetically pleasing to the middle class.

Duany was right about one thing. The sustainability battle among the next generation of urban designers will be fought on fields of grey and brown – the parking lot and the post-industrial site – whether they are being "retrofitted" for mixed-use development or converted into infrastructural landscapes. Either way, it appears that there is ample room and need for both."

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 in Urban Omnibus

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