Onward: New Ideas for Surface Transit
April 25, 2016
6:30 – 8:00 PM
Kohn Pedersen Fox
11 West 42nd Street
Join us April 25 for cocktails and conversation on the future of surface transit in New York. (more…)
Onward: New Ideas for Surface Transit
New York – London Exchange: Density
NY-LON: Density
April 29, 2016
8:30 – 10:30 AM
Kohn Pedersen Fox
11 West 42nd Street
What can London learn from New York’s experiences of higher density living as it too seeks to up its housing output? And how can the UK capital ensure that it is creating robust communities that are sustainable and attractive?
These questions lay at the heart of the latest NY-LON live video seminar staged last week by NLA at KPF’s offices in London and New York.
Purnima Kapur, Executive Director, New York City Department of City Planning said that with New York’s population expected to grow to 9 million by 2040, it had to ‘figure out how to house more people’, and that, as in London, housing production had struggled to keep up. But it was also crucial to keep a diverse city, with artists and working class people having been increasingly pushed out of the more desirable parts. In response the city has developed a 10 year, five borough plan aimed at developing more affordable housing, preserving existing housing and preventing displacement and planning for and investing in ‘strong neighbourhoods’, such as on the Long Island City waterfront. ‘Density is the New York way of living’, Kapur said, ‘It’s the way the city is.’
Savills’ Head of Global Research Yolande Barnes said she was keen to dispel myths surrounding density issues, and that pretty much every global city has the same problems on housing, particularly of affordability. London is the most expensive city that Savills monitors, closely followed by New York. But going tall isn’t always the right response. ‘The main message is we tend to automatically equate high density living with high-rise’, she said. ‘That’s not necessarily the case.’ There are many different measures of density but Barnes said there are 108 people per hectare in New York, 55 in London. And yet parts of London are up to 150/ha, and New York’s highest density zone is Chinatown, while one central area of Madrid has the highest densities outside of US and Asia, very little green space, but is mid- or low-rise and still retains pleasant streetscapes. ‘Paying attention to streets and how they work is far more important than the debate around high rise’, Barnes added.
The event also heard from speakers including Vishaan Chakrabarti, Founder, Partnership for Architecture and Urbanism who said he could see a shift from the central business district and hub and spoke model to a more networked city. ‘The world is not urbanizing; the world is suburbanizing at an incredibly rapid rate’, he said. ‘The skyscraper alone won’t do it.’ Brian Girard, Principal, KPF in London said the key was to build at the right configuration to enhance the fabric of a place, while Rick Bell, Executive Director, Design and Construction Excellence, Department of Design and Construction of the City of New York said the definition of density was the degree of compactness of a subject.
Finally, Heather Cheesbrough, Director of Planning and Strategic Transport, LB Croydon provided a London response, suggesting that although the built environment professions did not conflate density with tall buildings, the public tends to do so. ‘It is important for us to communicate that’, she said. ‘We do know the solutions; we just need to communicate what they are and be masters of our own destiny going forward.’
Recap courtesy of David Taylor, Editor, New London Quarterly
Speakers
| barnes | Yolande Barnes Yolande Barnes is the Director of World Research at Savills. Her areas of focus are world cities, the impact of private wealth in real estate, emerging trends in real estate markets, residential and commercial, urbanism and mixed use issues. A pioneer in the field of residential research, Barnes set up Savills own residential research department in 1989. |
| vishaan | Vishaan Chakrabarti Vishaan Chakrabarti is the Founder and CEO of the Partnership for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), as well as an Associate Professor of Practice at Columbia GSAPP. During his time as a principal at SHoP Architects, Chakrabarti co-led major architecture and urban design projects including the master plan and first building at the Domino Sugar site in Williamsburg. He previously served as the Director of the Manhattan Office of the Department of City Planning under Mayor Bloomberg. |
| BG2 | Brian Girard Brian Girard is a Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox. As Design Principal for KPF’s London office, Girard is leading the design for new communities in the Earls Court- the largest redevelopment project in central London. The 77-acre masterplan will transform this area of West London into a vibrant urban district that supports sustainable living. Girard’s previous projects in New York include MoMA’s expansion and the Hudson Yards masterplan. |
| PK2 | Purnima Kapur Purnima Kapur is the Executive Director of the New York City Department of City Planning, where she is overseeing DCP’s housing initiatives–promoting transit-oriented growth, housing production and affordability, economic development and resilient and sustainable communities across the five boroughs. She previously directed the Brooklyn and Bronx Offices of City Planning, where she led the development of Downtown Brooklyn, Greenpoint-Williamsburg, Coney Island, Yankee Stadium and Port Morris. |
Hard Hat Tour: WTC Transportation Hub
WTC Transportation Hub Tour
January 7, 2016
10:00 – 11:30 AM
Greenwich Street & Fulton Street
Join us January 7 for a hard hat tour of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub led by Robert Eisenstat, Chief Architect of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. (more…)
Fall 2015 Fellows Forum: Crossroads
Crossroads:
Cities After the Private Car
November 16
The Century Association
7 West 43rd Street
New technologies are revolutionizing the way we move through cities. Car- and bike-share options are swaying more urbanites to ditch their cars. E-hail companies are enhancing ease and access across the five boroughs. Rapid delivery services are reducing trips to grocery stores and retailers. Autonomous cars and trucks are being tested on roads across America. How will these technologies shape our streets, transit networks, and public realm? Could private cars finally become obsolete?
On November 16, the Urban Design Forum invited Emily Castor, Head of Policy at Lyft, Kent Larson, Director of the Changing Place Group at MIT Media Lab, and Anthony Townsend, forecaster and Senior Research Scientist at the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation, to help launch our inquiry into the future of transportation in New York City. (more…)
Fellows Tour: 7 Line Extension
On October 13, thirty Fellows of the Urban Design Forum participated in a members-only tour of the 7 Line extension and Hudson Yards construction site led by Beth Greenberg and Richard Dattner, Principals at Dattner; Shawn Kildare, Senior Vice President at MTA Capital Construction; Alexia Friend, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; and Michael Samuelian, Vice President at Related.
NY-LON EXCHANGE: WHAT DOES ‘AFFORDABLE’ MEAN?
NY-LON: What Does ‘Affordable’ Mean?
October 9, 2015
8:30 – 10:30 AM
Kohn Pedersen Fox
11 West 42nd Street
Join the Forum + Institute for Urban Design, Kohn Pedersen Fox, and New London Architecture for our eighth New York – London Exchange discussing innovative approaches to affordable and supportive housing. (more…)
RAMSA in China
RAMSA in China
September 16, 6:30 – 8:30pm
Robert A.M. Stern Architects
460 West 34th Street
On September 16th the Urban Design Forum was joined by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Cathleen McGuigan for rooftop cocktails and conversation about the firm’s recent work in China.
Robert A.M. Stern Architects is an internationally recognized architecture firm based in New York City. Recent projects in China include Heart of Lake, a high-rise garden suburb in Xiamen, and AVIC Jinjiang Uptown, a 235,000-square-meter mixed-use development designed to be woven into the city’s street grid.
RAMSA Partners Robert A.M. Stern, Grant Marani, and Paul Whalen and Associate Partners Chen-Huan Liao and Bina Bhattacharyya were joined conversation by Cathleen McGuigan, Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Record.
Shanshui City
Shanshui City:
An Evening with Ma Yansong
July 20, 6:30 – 8:30pm
Kohn Pedersen Fox
11 West 42nd Street
On July 20, the Forum + Institute for Urban Design invited Ma Yansong, founding principal of MAD Architects, and Michael Sorkin, founding principal of Michael Sorkin Studio, to discuss Ma’s “Shanshui City” design philosophy.
Leave Nothing Behind
Leave Nothing Behind:
An Evening with Ben Wood & Randall Mason
June 23, 6:30 – 8:00pm
The Century Association
7 West 43rd Street
On July 23, the Forum + Institute for Urban Design invited Benjamin Wood, founding principal of Studio Shanghai, and Randall Mason, chair of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at PennDesign, to discuss the interplay between economic development and historic preservation in China. (more…)
The Chinese Ascent
The Chinese Ascent
May 6, 2015
6:30 – 8:30PM
The Century Association
7 West 43rd Street
Over the last 30 years, more than 200 million people have migrated from the countryside to China’s cities, and officials plan to relocate another 250 million rural residents over the next decade. 55% of China’s population is now living in cities. What are the consequences of this vast urban shift?
On May 6, the Forum + Institute for Urban Design invited Kongjian Yu, founding principal of Turenscape, James von Klemperer, President of Kohn Pedersen Fox, and Clifford Pearson, editor of Architectural Record, to discuss the enormous challenges and opportunities presented by China’s rapid urbanization. (more…)