Walking Home by Ken Greenberg, based out of Canada, has over 40 years of practice as an architect and an urban designer. His important projects deal with urban settings across North America and Europe. He has worked on various urban scales, from streets to neighborhoods and from community planning to regional growth management. His firm’s design philosophy lies in the ardent commitment to improving people’s lives at every level of society. Ken Greenberg has given a remarkable contribution as a volunteer to design a just, inclusive and environmentally sustainable community. His works have been recognized by prestigious awards such as the American Institutes of Architects, Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Design Excellence, the Sustainable Buildings Canada Lifetime Achievements award and more recently an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Toronto. From migrating to Canada as a student to establishing his firm, Ken Greenberg has accomplished his motto of making cities better across the globe.
“Because land in cities is limited – and valuable – there is a built-in incentive to seek city-building solutions that overlap in time and space, doing multiple things with great economies of means – the very essence of sustainability and urbanity”.
A biographical narrative and an analysis of the transformation of streets and neighbourhoods. The analysis from the perspective of an urban designer with stories from his life makes this book Walking Home unique, intriguing and academically helpful. The book is divided into eight parts, each part with its sub-matter. The first part talks about the streets and neighbourhoods, where Ken Greenberg grew up. Having lived in various cities, his journey from one city to another gives him a purpose to compare and analyse what it takes to make a “better city”! The classification of pre-war and post-war cities is interesting. The chronological order of the narrative brings in popular movements and revolutions of the world, such as the industrial revolution. Next, the effect of cheap oil and gas is discussed, which made the city planning much around the automobile industry. The influence of the oil industry together with post-war rebuilding gave rise to large-scale projects when the public planning policy needed to be rewritten. The first part ends with his moving out of Brooklyn, which has proved to be a resilient neighbourhood over time.
The second part talks about permanent settlers of cities. When people started taking part in making their streets and neighbourhoods friendly and safe. The classic example quoted is of Greenwich Village where Jane Jacobs led a movement to save its streets from getting replaced by highways. This part also talks about maintaining a balance between the complex workings of cities and the ecology of natural systems. The author’s life narrative forwards with him entering an architecture school at Columbia. He discusses his studio projects and what impact each jury and juror left on him as a designer. The answers to his questions were always sought in the workings of the cities rather than their design. When Ken Greenberg moved to Toronto, Canada, he started exploring and communicating with the streets and neighbourhoods from the perspective of his learnings earlier. Being an American, settled in Canada, Ken Greenberg starts his journey as a city builder, experimenting with the city’s design and workings and getting involved with the city’s politics.
The third part starts with the realization of the cyclic nature of neighbourhoods. Once again in the late 1970s, the value of a neighbourhood grew due to the economic and human infrastructure already in place. Ken Greenberg zooms out to the wider picture in this part where cities help to sow, mature, fertilize and grow ideas and relationships. Cities have to now accommodate migrated diverse populations, leading to new economies and social equations. Old residential blocks were now demolished to erect mixed-use megaprojects. In a way, the revival of city buildings was a collective unlearning of old ways and learning of new ones with a smoother process. The requirement of the city buildings and its neighbourhoods was not single or dual but now had to satisfy diverse stakeholders. In the late 1970s discovery of new tools and methods led to perceive the city as much more than a collection of building blocks.
The fourth part introduces the readers to some of the planning tools that Ken Greenberg has experimented with in Toronto over the years, working in Toronto’s Department of Planning and Development. He was involved in projects at various scales, regional, city, neighbourhood and street. The common tools implemented throughout the projects were using public policy to strengthen design and influence private developments. Ken Greenberg further discusses how political influence and an urge for economic stability acted as drivers for projects. The approach for city design keeps oscillating between hi-tech, smart megaprojects and reviving older areas for newer functions. Towards the end of this section, Ken Greenberg discusses the global trends that cities absorb to stay relevant and respond to issues. He points out that not every tool will fit every city, giving an example of “transit-oriented developments”. Toronto, like many other cities, made huge investments in transit without the prerequisites in place. To absorb global planning tools in a particular city, new types of collaborations are needed that can fill the gaps first, and then pursue the planning. In conclusion, Ken Greenberg points out that well-established cities such as Barcelona, New York, and Berlin share an appetite for newer opportunities compared to old cities.
The fifth part of Walking Home elaborates on the cyclic nature of cities that were mentioned earlier. While the nineteenth century saw the construction of mega projects and new commercials, the twentieth-century city is responding to very different and accelerated pressures. Urban centres are revived and new centres are finding ways with more compact, transit-oriented and walkable communities. While the focus of the first half of the twenty-first century shifted to better living conditions and bigger homes in the outskirts, the second half of the twenty-first century is predicted to focus again on compact developments. Thus, completing the cycle. Further, he discusses how “sustainable living” became a backdrop in all existing urban planning movements and trends. This gave air to the need of being with nature. Huge regional parks, central parks and neighbourhood parks started to exist along with green fissures such as rooftop gardens, green walls, walkable streets and streams flowing in between city squares. The line between city and nature gets diluted with sustainable planning.
Reviving old neighbourhoods and streets for newer functions and efficient use, the public space lost was found again. Though the movement to revive public spaces into places was taking momentum, the challenges related to funding kept increasing owing to an over-competitive market. Another big change due to growing economies was that cities now asked for recognition. The tourism industry flourished because of the ever-narrowing distance between countries. In this context, the waterfront became a crucial public space that needed intervention. Waterfronts that were meant to be used as ports were not pressurized to offer a public place.
The seventh and the eighth part of the book talks about how to get people involved in the process of city-making. The concept of subsidiary was the key during this movement. Ken Greenberg discusses this further by citing examples in Toronto where the subsidiary has succeeded and failed. This dialogue is extended to the “managing the suburbia” challenge that has governed the urban form of expanding cities. The book concludes with Ken Greenberg’s belief that to avoid repeating mistakes in the process of city building, we need to share our stories, as Ken Greenberg has shared in this book. The best way to defend the inertia is to build strong learning ecosystems and develop an appetite to change and absorb changes.
Published on: 17th May 2011
Pages: 400
Publisher: Random House Canada
References | Walking Home
- Book- Greenberg, K. (2011). Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder. Random House Canada.
