The University Record, February 5, 2001

CAUP hosting Fourth National Conference on New Urbanism

By Kate Kellogg
News and Information Services

The A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) will host the Fourth National Symposium on New Urbanism Feb. 8–10.

Subtitled “Regional, Environmental, Social and Architectural Justice,” the symposium continues the provocative series of conferences that have been held at Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley.

More than 30 leading advocates and critics of New Urbanism from throughout the country will speak and serve on panels. They include:

  • Peter Calthorpe, author of the best seller The New American Metropolis and principal in Calthorpe Associates, Berkeley, Calif.

  • Andres Duany, principal in Duany Plater-Zyberk@Company (Charlotte, Miami and Washington, D.C., offices) that designed the proposed Newmarket development in Pittsfield Township near Ann Arbor. Duany and Calthorpe are among the founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism.

  • Alex Krieger, chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University.

  • Anne Spirn, author of The Language of Landscape; former chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania; and current faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Michael Sorkin, head of the Urban Design Program at City College of New York, author and frequent contributor to architecture periodicals.

    The event opens with a reception and panel the evening of Feb. 8 in the Rackham Bldg., followed by sessions Feb. 9 at the Art and Architecture Bldg. and Feb. 10 at the Rackham Bldg.

    Panels will focus on the topics of environmentalism, regionalism, social equity and architectural design. These issues have generated controversy both inside and outside the New Urbanism movement and throughout contemporary architectural and planning practice.

    “This is a critical moment in the history of the American city, as it is challenged by depopulation, deindustrialization and suburban sprawl,” says CAUP Dean Douglas S. Kelbaugh. “We’re bringing together some of the deepest thinkers, brightest minds and top practitioners in the field to speak on these issues. They will examine the New Urbanism as it intersects with modernist urbanism.”

    New Urbanism seeks to revitalize urban centers, establish a sense of community and coherence to existing neighborhoods and in new developments, and conserve natural environments. “It’s about the contemporary lifestyle and how to design and make community,” says Kelbaugh, one of the movement’s pioneers.

    Participants will discuss problems, such as racial/economic segregation, and proposed solutions that divide Detroit and other metropolitan areas, particularly in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Each session includes time for questions and comments from the audience.

    In addition to Kelbaugh, U-M faculty participating in the symposium include Scott Campbell, assistant professor of urban planning; Robert Fishman, professor of architecture; David Scobey, associate professor of architecture and director of the Arts of Citizenship Program; Robert Levit, assistant professor of architecture; and Joan Nassauer, professor of landscape architecture.

    The symposium is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of the President, the U-M Erb Environmental Management Institute and the Congress for the New Urbanism. It is open to faculty, students and the general public. For more information, call (734) 764-1300 or visit the Web at www.caup.umich.edu/news/events/newurb.symp.html.