Learning by Doing and Doing While Learning
This piece was written in response to the Wall Street Journal article, "Monumentally Mediocre," about the construction of the new Eisenhower Memorial in D.C.. The monument cost taxpayers $150 million to construct. Not only is a classical design for the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. monumentally less expensive for the taxpayer, but it is also …
Continue reading "Washington, D.C.’s New Eisenhower Memorial: My Response"
The late British architect and urban designer, Gordon Cullen (1914–1994), developed the concept of townscape, an extension of the picturesque English landscape. A term first used in the 1880s within the context of unspoiled English towns, Cullen used it since the early 1950s to define the visual art of town planning. Cullen maintained that townscape …
Continue reading "The Ballad of Port Grimaud: Doing It Right in St. Tropez Bay"
Using examples from around the world, I make the case for classic streets as an answer to today's traffic and road congestion problems.
Using the analogy of Rube Goldberg's complicated machines and the example of Chinese cities, I discuss the missteps taken in the pursuit of sustainable modernist architecture, and what we can learn from our ancestors.
I had such a pleasure chatting with my great friend, James Kunstler, on his podcast called The Kunstler Cast! I believe he is in my mind one of the greatest futurists living! Thanks again, James Howard Kunstler! Click below to listen to the podcast! #ClassicPlanning #UrbanDesign
© Nir Buras, December, 2018 According to the “craftsman cliché” a person who works with their hands is a laborer; one who works with their hands and their mind is an artisan; and one who works with their hands, their mind, and their heart is an artist. Indeed, Webster 1828 defines artisan as “someone skilled …
© Nir Buras Novemeber, 2019 Charles Jencks was one of my professors at UCLA in the 1980s. For me personally he was notable for his gentlemanly defense of a project I produced for his studio, a Postmodernist hamburger stand in the style of the Tail o’ the Pup hotdog stand in LA, a PoMo icon …
Self admittedly, modernist planners do not fully understand the concept of density. The complex, three-dimensional and multi-scalar relationships and flows of a city cannot be reduced to a mere number.
© Nir Buras, December, 2018 Fantastic World by Robert McCall 2019-12-03T00:00:00 days hours minutes secondsuntilClassic Planning Book Release The challenges of the 21st century have been forecast and are well known. In many ways we are already experiencing the future now. But predictions are hard to validate. A way around that is turning to slightly …
Shibam sits dramatically on a rocky ledge that rises out of the flood plain river bed of the Wadi Hadhramaut in Yemen. It is comprised of approximately 500 densely-knit, contiguous tower houses that run up to 82 feet high and are built on the remains of earlier towns out of traditional mud brick architecture, the …
Continue reading "Not a “Manhattan of the Desert” but a Lesson in Sustainability for Manhattan"
Writing my book on classic planning I revisited Boston. Walking around from the place I was staying on Boston Common, I found myself charmed by it. Looking more closely at Boston’s pre-World War II architecture with author James Stevens Curl, we concluded that Boston’s traditional architecture was exceedingly well-built and sustainable. Attending a lecture by …
Classic Planning is not only relevant in creating beauty and long-term urban value. Its core principles offer a strategy for a hitherto unapproachable task: military control of a megacity. This blog of mine was published on January 3, 2019 by the Mad Scientist Initiative at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), a marketplace of ideas …
Continue reading "Classic Planning Holism is a Basis for Megacity Strategy"
Perhaps more than any other year, 2018 has been a year of gratitude for me. Family members survived the California fire, my daughter and son in law are expecting, my lovely life partner has not gone totally bananas from my writing. For all these I am grateful, as well as for the inspiration, support, participation, …
Man-Machine Rules are necessary if we want to survive as a species. This blog of mine was published by the Mad Scientist Initiative at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), a marketplace of ideas in dialogue with academia, industry, and government. Focused on the Deep Future, 2035-2050, its broad spectrum of interests makes the group an …
The saving grace of the house is a utility room with a claw foot, cast iron bathtub, tucked into it, ...to recover from the inevitable hangover.
Denmark is a unique concept; Everything is right sized. Nothing is too big. Their small, traditional buildings are good, fun, imaginative, well-built, and richly detailed. They show a deep appreciation for the magic in buildings.
Under the looming fear of ultimate superficiality,.. All I want is to do a good job.
As you may already know, I have spent the last two years writing The Art of Classic Planning, and it will be published by Harvard University Press next year. It has received extensive support from esteemed colleagues, and it has received generous funding from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation in Chicago for a world-wide photo …
Our CPI friend Ann Sussman from HAPI.org is giving a seminar on eye-tracking this week. I’m sure many people will be interested in attending for free. The seminar is on Thu. Apr 28, 2022- 9:00 AM EDT. Link to register- https://bit.ly/3MrwbUw Link to their website- theHapi CPI friend Ann Sussman- https://bit.ly/3MylzUc
Classic Planning Institute Blog 