William S. Saunders – författare

The complexity and scale of the environmental problems confronting humanity today provoke a wide range of responses, from indifference to anger to creativity. Among a growing number of architects, landscape architects, and planners, however, these problems have inspired a new vision-sustainability-to guide their practices.  In Nature, Landscape, and Building for Sustainability, a diverse group of contributors considers the concept of sustainability, both philosophically and practically. Some take a broad view of the divisions between nature and humanity, exploring the incomprehensible scale of human intervention in the natural world, the relationship between how we feel about nature and what we do about it, and the commodification of the natural world. Other essays focus on sustainable design practices: sustainability’s roots in the American conservation tradition, its utility as a framework for future design practice, and the necessity of moving beyond demonstration projects into the mainstream. Together, these essays suggest that the gap between the promise and reality of sustainable design, although significant, can be bridged through diligence and practice. Contributors: D. Michelle Addington, Yale U; John Beardsley, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Albert Borgmann, U of Montana, Missoula; Peter Buchanan; Peter Del Tredici, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Robert France, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Susannah Hagan, U of East London; Kristina Hill, U of Virginia; Catherine Howett, U of Georgia; Niall Kirkwood, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Lucy R. Lippard; Bill McKibbin; Michael Pollan; Rossana Vaccarino, Vaccarino Associates, St. Thomas. William S. Saunders is editor of Harvard Design Magazine and assistant dean for external relations at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He is editor of five previous Harvard Design Magazine Readers published by the University of Minnesota Press. Robert L. Thayer Jr. is emeritus professor of landscape architecture and founder of the landscape architecture program at the University of California, Davis.

Highlights key issues in contemporary urban design through a discussion of its origins, current state, and futureFifty years ago a landmark conference at Harvard University established urban design as a distinct architectural and planning practice. Today, with the world’s urban population surpassing three billion people, urban design has become more crucial than ever. Indeed, the concerns that initially brought leading architects and city planners together-including concerns over sprawl, pollution, and aging infrastructure-have only intensified over the past half century. In Urban Design, Alex Krieger and William S. Saunders have assembled prominent figures in architecture, planning, and landscape design to look back on the evolution of the discipline of urban design; assess the current state of the field; and anticipate the challenges posed by the unprecedented rate of urbanization, particularly in the developing world, and how the profession will need to adapt in order to confront them. The volume opens with excerpts from transcripts of the 1956 Harvard conference followed by essays that contextualize and critique its assumptions and ambitions. Subsequent essays address such topics as the social conscience of urban design and stake out the competing sensibilities in the field, from New Urbanism to avant-garde. As humanity becomes an urban species to a degree that was unimaginable fifty years ago, this comprehensive volume seeks to encourage today’s designers to draw on the energy and messy vitality of cities in shaping tomorrow’s urban environments.Contributors: Jonathan Barnett, Denise Scott Brown, Joan Busquets, Kenneth Greenberg, John Kaliski, Timothy Love, Fumihiko Maki, Richard Marshall, Eric Mumford, Michelle Provoost, Peter G. Rowe, Edward W. Soja, Richard M. Sommer, Michael Sorkin, Emily Talen, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Wouter Vanstiphout, Charles Waldheim.