Our latest blog entry comes from Julie Kim, the Public Engagement Director at the San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association (SPUR).
The "P" in SPUR stands for planning--the good planning that makes cities work. But sometimes good planning comes at the expense of good design. I wrote this article as a way to investigate where the planning and design professions could meet--not in the sense that either planners or designers should be forced to compromise, but where they could unite in their efforts to push the envelope when it comes to improving cities.
A badly needed middle ground could be created by allowing architects--designers with an eye for the details that make cities pleasant and surprising (i.e. more than merely functional)--to once again influence urban planning. But the devastating consequences of Modernist planning experiments in the early- and mid- 20th century have made it difficult for architects to be invited back to the table, and the rising generation of socially-minded, environmentally-conscious architects are left without any real avenues toward paying work--or even non-paying, but meaningful involvement--in city design. As a result, the broad skill set of today's designers are going to waste in a highly specialized world. An ever nimble and resourceful bunch, these architects will survive. But our cities will suffer.
