What is Visions for Tomorrow?
Peter Calthorpe
Peter Calthorpe- A principle of Calthorpe Associates, a leading firm of urban designers, planners and architects, Peter Calthorpe was named one of 25 “innovators on the cutting edge” by Newsweek magazine for his work redefining the models of urban and suburban growth in America. Throughout his long and honored career in urban design, planning and architecture, he has pioneered new approaches to urban revitalization, suburban growth, and regional planning.
- After studying at Yale’s Graduate School of Architecture, he joined the Farrallones Institute as director of design. Following that, he became a project designer at the California Office of the State Architect, working on energy-efficient state office buildings and planning for the Capital Area. Beginning private practice in 1978, with the firm of Van der Ryn, Calthorpe and Partners, his work ranged from large community planning to commercial complexes and public buildings. His architecture, planning, and research from this period established his leadership in passive solar design, producing countless publications and three National Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Awards. Over the years Mr. Calthorpe has received numerous honors and awards including appointment to the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. During the Clinton presidency, he provided direction for HUD’s Empowerment Zone and Consolidated Planning Programs, and oversaw a program to rebuild some of the country’s worst public housing projects. In 1992, he became a founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism and was its first board president.
- Since forming Calthorpe Associates in 1983, his work has expanded to include major projects in urban, new town, and suburban settings in the United States and abroad. He has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Europe and South America, in addition to teaching at U.C. Berkeley, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and the University of North Carolina. With groundbreaking work in U.S. cities such as Portland, Austin and Los Angeles, he has helped establish the emerging field of regional design. Mr. Calthorpe was recently selected by the State of Louisiana to lead its long-term growth and redevelopment planning following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Through his work internationally, from China to Italy, Jordan to Australia, he has demonstrated that community design with a focus on environmental sustainability and human scale can be adopted throughout the globe.
- Mr. Calthorpe’s published works include technical papers, articles for popular magazines, and two seminal books which he co-authored: “Sustainable Communities, Pedestrian Pocket Book” and “The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl.” He also authored “The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream.”
- Through design innovation, publications, and realized projects, Peter Calthorpe’s 30-year practice has helped galvanize a national trend towards the key principals of New Urbanism: that neighborhoods, villages and urban centers demonstrate environmental sustainability; pedestrian and transit oriented compatibility; and mixed-use capability which serve ever-diverse populations and functions.