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UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF DESIGN FALL 2011
STUDENT NEWSLETTER OF PENNPLANNING
Is Planning Relevant? The Greats Respond Last April, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Professor Thomas Campanella issued a scathing pronouncement of city and regional planning. In an article entitled, “Jane Jacobs and the Death and Life of American Planning.” Campanella used such terms as “minor,” “irrelevant,” “trivial” and “impotent,” to describe planning and planning professionals. Campanella argues that planning efforts have been unsuccessful over the last 50 years, culminating in his realization that “planners in America lack the agency or authority to turn idealism into reality,” and that “planning has neither the prestige nor the street cred to effect real change.” Campanella blames Jane Jacobs’ revolutionary response to urban renewal in the postwar period for this outcome. He claims her emphasis on grassroots, bottom-up planning resulted in the disintegration of planning profession in three ways: First, Jacobs deemphasized physical design as the core of the profession, voiding planners’ sense of purpose. Second, Jacobs’ emphasis on community participation in planning has usurped planners’ authority. Finally, Jacobs so vilified planners that today’s professionals lack boldness in their proposals. In an effort to explore these contentions, Penn Planning invited three noted planning educators to address each statement. First, MIT’s Lawrence Susskind spoke to the argument that planning has gone too far in elevating citizen participation over professional expertise. Susskind asserted that community engagement is needed to help planners and city officials generate public excitement for new planning and development initiatives. He also claimed that greater public participation better allows planners to develop worst-case scenarios addressing such issues as poverty and growing inequality. In October, Martin Wachs from the University of California-Berkeley addressed the transformational power of planning today.
“Construction Potentials: Postwar Prospects and Problems, a Basis for Action,” Architectural Record, 1943. Prepared by the F.W. Dodge Corporation Committee on Postwar Construction Markets. Retrieved from http://places.designobserver.com/feature/jane-jacobs-and-the-death-and-life-of-american-planning/25188/
Penn Planning Welcomes New Faculty This fall, Penn Planning welcomes two new faculty members to the department. Evan Rose is a new Professor of Practice in the department. He is the founder of Urban Design+, a full-service urban design, planning and sustainability firm focusing on developmentready design for public and private clients, and a partner in !Melk, a landscape and urban design practice based in New York. Previously, Mr. Rose was a Principal at SMWM. He led the urban design practice for 11 years and built the firm’s New York office. Mr. Rose also worked as the Senior Urban Designer for the San Francisco Planning Department where he authored the award-winning San Francisco Waterfront Urban Design and Access Plan and initiated and implemented the acclaimed San Francisco Downtown Streetscape Plan. Mr. Rose completed his Master of Architecture at the University of California-Berkeley and his Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Reed College. He has worked in the U.S. and abroad leading a variety of major design commissions, including the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative in Washington, DC, the Boston Central Artery Master Plan, the Kamenskoe Plato project in Kazakhstan and, currently, the Pier 70 Redevelopment Plan in San Francisco. Mr. Rose has been a regular critic of architecture and urban design studios, and served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University and at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Scott Page is the founder of Interface Studio, a nationally-recognized urban design firm based in Philadelphia which takes on the challenge of shrinking cities and communities. The firm has earned two awards from the American Planning Association, and one from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Recent work has included industrial strategies in former manufacturing powerhouses, including Philadelphia, Detroit and Louisville. Mr. Page is a new Lecturer in the department. He received his MCP and a Certificate in Urban Design from Penn Planning in 1996. He completed his Bachelor of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which included a year of study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts la Villette in Paris. Mr. Page regular contributes to Planetizen’s Interchange blog, and his research on urban design, emerging technologies and sustainability has been presented and published in the United States and Europe. Mr. Rose teaches the Public Realm studio for second year urban design students; Mr. Page teaches CPLN 504, Site Planning & Urban Design Methods. 1