Eminent American Urbanist Don Carter visits JTP
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Eminent American Urbanist Don Carter visits JTP

Published on 3 October 2018

JTP is delighted to welcome world renowned American architect, urban designer and educator Don Carter to our London studio this week. As well as meeting old friends in JTP’s Great Sutton Street studio, Don will visit JTP’s new London studio at Pennington Street, Wapping, which is currently being fitted out.

Don is in London to promote his new book, Remaking Post-Industrial Cities: Lessons from North America and Europe, including speaking at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) on Thursday 4 October 2018.  In his RSA lecture, Don will share lessons learned from his studies of post-industrial transformation, highlighting issues he has found to be critical to resilient urban communities in the US and the UK, including: sustainability; doing more with less; public engagement; and social, economic and environmental equity. Tickets are available here

Don is the former president of Urban Design Associates (UDA), the Pittsburgh based practice founded by David Lewis and Ray Gindroz, one of the first architecture firms to focus on neighbourhood and city design, establish the discipline of urban design and pioneer citizen engagement in planning and placemaking. JTP has collaborated with UDA on several projects including the competition winning design for Moscow’s Expansion, New Federal District, an extension of the city to accommodate 1.7 million residents and 800,000 new jobs. 

Don continues to be a consulting principal to UDA and is also the Director of Urban Design and Regional Engagement at the Remaking Cities Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. When asked how we should build the 21st century city, Don opined:

“
Don’t throw away the lessons of the past, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly cities, like Pittsburgh, are part of the great American tradition. The American grid meant walking to work, school, and shopping. People had to live that way, and it’s still the best model. Vibrancy can only happen with people in gathering places. People gravitate to cosmopolitan life, to a sense of place.
Moscow’s Expansion, New Federal District: aerial view of proposal situated to the southwest of the city