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Topics
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Peter
Katz
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Author
and consultant Peter Katz used to help developers market suburban
sprawl. Now he's one of its fiercest critics.
Katz
is a leading proponent of New Urbanism, an urban design and planning
movement that the New York Times called "the most important
phenomenon to emerge in American architecture in the post-Cold War
era." New Urbanists combine traditional planning and modern
technology to create compelling places that break the suburban mold
of mega-malls, cookie-cutter subdivisions and endless highways.
Instead, they strive for environmental balance, social integration
and a true sense of community.
Katz
played a key role in shaping the movement as founding executive
director of the Congress for the New Urbanism, an organization that
the New York Times called "the most important phenomenon to
emerge in American architecture in the post-Cold War era."
He's also author of a seminal book on the subject–The New Urbanism:
Toward an Architecture of Community– published by McGraw-Hill
in 1994.
Katz
is a Professor-in-Practice at Virginia Polytechnic Institute
(the Institute's Northern Virginia Center, in Alexandria). He provides
consulting services in the areas of real-estate marketing and community
development. Over the years, Katz has worked with a range of clients
including government agencies, real-estate developers, non-profit
organizations, charitable foundations and civic associations. Included
among these are Community Builders (Louisville and Cincinnati),
the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Brookings
Institution and Contra Costa County (California). His reach extends
internationally, too–with speeches and consulting stints in
Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan. For
several years Katz has been a survey participant in Emerging Trends
in Real Estate, a highly respected industry forecast co-produced
by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Lend Lease Real Estate Investments.
Before
his involvement with New Urbanism, Katz was a principal of Stratagem
Consultants, a San Francisco based real-estate marketing consultancy,
where he directed projects for such clients as the Port of Oakland,
the InterPacific Group and Embarcadero Center. Before his move to
San Francisco in 1986, Katz was founding partner of Whitehouse &
Katz, a New York-based marketing and design firm, where his clients
included Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, IBM
Corporation, The Prudential Realty Group and Lincoln Center for
the Performing Arts.
Katz
received his degree from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of
Science and Art in New York where he studied architecture and graphic
design.
For a recent Peter Katz article in Planning on the new form-based code approach he's helped to pioneer, click here. Regarding his concepts of the interconnected "intelligent community" for our times, click here. For for Katz's personal professional profile, check this interview from Professional Builder.
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Speech Topics
New
Urbanism: Why "Place" Matters–Most everyone agrees
that sprawl threatens our metropolitan regions, but what is the
alternative? One of the most hopeful development techniques for
both infill and new growth areas is New Urbanism. What are the principles
of this innovative planning approach? How does it differ from conventional
suburban development? How does one incorporate transportation elements
into New Urbanist neighborhoods? Retail? Affordable housing? How
does New Urbanism relate to existing municipal zoning? Citizen participation?
What are the best examples of New Urbanism around the country and
elsewhere in the world? Why does place matter even more in our increasingly
global, information-based world?
New
Urbanism: Making it Work in the Marketplace–Widely recognized
for its social and environmental benefits, New Urbanism is not yet
widely accepted as a development strategy. Where are the successes
of the New Urbanism, and how have those successes been achieved?
What's the best way to market this approach and to whom? How can
negative attitudes toward density and mixed-used be turned around,
and even leveraged for greater competitive advantage? How can we
apply the lessons of "classic" real-estate developments
of the past to today's market?
Critical
Choices for Vital Regions–The social, economic and political
viability of our communities is increasingly tied to the larger
regional context, yet there are great obstacles to planning at the
regional level. What lessons can New Urbanism provide for the region
as a whole? How can citizen participation in planning at the neighborhood
level contribute to the making of a more dynamic region? Where are
the regional planning success stories, and how can they be replicated
elsewhere?
Mobility
and the Modern Metropolis: Public Transit in an Era of Diminishing
Resources–Transportation has always had a huge impact on
the form of America's communities. As we move beyond the automobile
era, how will public transit shape cities and towns of tomorrow?
Will the design of new transportation systems reinforce the positive
aspects of our communities or will it degrade them? What are the
critical details that make the difference?
New
Technologies for Citizen-Based Planning–Must the planning
process be dull, complex and accessible only to insiders? No. Today's
technologies are making it possible for citizens to be involved
in ways that are meaningful and even fun. New computer programs
use interactive presentation techniques that are much more informative
and compelling than the plans, renderings and dry lists of numbers
that planners currently use. Some tools literally put citizens in
the picture, enabling them to walk through redesigned communities,
visualizing alternatives on the fly. Others generate economic data
as designs are changed, so that feasibility can be quickly assessed
for a range of alternative plans. This highly visual, information-rich
talk uses computer graphics to showcase the tools and techniques.
Such approaches will be essential for citizen participation is to
move beyond mere "input" to true democratic development
within our communities.
Beyond
Zoning: New Approaches to Development Regulation–Forward-thinking
local governments are increasingly looking to New Urbanism and Smart
Growth development strategies to accommodate future growth. Yet
in many of those same communities, existing zoning ordinances work
against the implementation of such approaches. Why is zoning, long
the mainstay of American planning, coming to be seen as an impediment
to true mixed-use development? Why are developers, who are typically
concerned with flexibility above all else, starting to embrace highly
prescriptive New Urban codes? How do such codes address issues such
as housing affordability? Increased automobile dependence? Property
rights? And why are issues of architectural style the least important
element in some New Urbanist codes?
Attaining
the Intelligent Community–With all the recent focus on
wired towns, cities and regions, some are wondering whether the
concept of a virtual community will ultimately supplant the "real
places" where we live, work, shop and play. Despite such concerns,
there is much evidence that physical place is still what matters
most in the information economy. Recent findings show that the most
desired communities are those that offer a high quality of life
with strong local institutions providing quality health care, life-long
education and cultural enrichment. In many such places, ordinary
citizens are more involved in decisions about growth, development
and municipal affairs. Physical design approaches such as New Urbanism
and Smart Growth, while important, are just one component in this
holistic and integrated approach to creating the intelligent community
of the future.
Smart
Growth and New Urbanism: Moving from Theory to Practice--As
these compact, pedestrian-friendly development models achieve increasing
popularity among citizens, local government and some developers,
those same individuals and groups are discovering considerable barriers
to implementing such approaches. What are the "three pillars"
that are essential to achieving success with Smart Growth and New
Urban development strategies? How should the community deal with
highly charged NIMBY debates about traffic congestion, parking and
views? What is the importance of community visioning? the charrette
process? zoning ordinances versus form-based codes? public education
about planning issues? demonstration projects? While there has much
discussion about the pros and cons of New Urbanism and Smart Growth,
there has been little information about the critical "next
steps" for communities that want to grow in better ways. This
presentation fills that void with colorful visual examples, clear
how-to lists, and resources for further exploration.
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Recent
Speeches
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Housing Outlook Conference, Halifax , Nova Scotia, Canada. Keynote Speaker: New Urbanism: Making it Work in the Marketplace; February 2006
American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) 2005 Annual Meeting; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Speaker: Beyond Zoning: New Approaches to Development Regulation; October 2005
Planning Institute of Australia , Western Australia Division 2004 Conference, Perth , Western Australia . Keynote Speaker: Place Matters , November 2004 Small Cities Forum; an Initiative of The Cultural Future of Small Cities; Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Keynote Speaker: The Intelligent Community, May 2004
City of Redwood City, Communities By Design The Forum at Redwood City (series), Redwood City, California . Inaugural Speaker: Beyond Zoning: New Approaches to Development Regulation; December 2003
The Brookings Institution Shaping the American City : New Approaches to Development Regulation, Chicago, Illinois. Speaker: Introduction to Form Based Codes ; January 2003
Urban Land Institute (ULI); The Property Council of Australia Cities for the New Economy Leadership Summit; Surfer's Paradise, Australia. Speaker: Community Building: Lessons for Australia, April 2001
National Building Museum, Washington, DC. Featured speaker: Attaining the Intelligent Community, July 2000
National Housing Conference 1999 Fall Policy Conference: New Options for Housing America's Families, Dallas, Texas. Speaker: Community Design and Regulatory Practices, October 1999
Last updated May 27, 2006
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