As the world skews towards urbanization, the shapers of that metropolitan fabric—from policy makers to architects—are increasingly influential in how they are lived in. Will cities encourage fraternization or isolation? Will they favor cars or bikes? Will they feel safe or threatening? How can they be places that foster diversity and creativity, while meeting the changes of a shifting environment and burgeoning population? All of these questions are fascinating to study through the lens of the architects, designers and planners, and a recent report by AIA did just that. For their study of public ways and spaces (alleys, streets, etc.) they interviewed Matt about our work designing Chicago’s first parklet and our involvement in PARK(ing) day.
Click on the page below to read the text. The full report can be found here.