Aaron Lubeck was on "The Messy City" Podcast
Urbanist / Architect Kevin Klinkenberg and I break down the state of advocacy, design, and the need for messy & incremental places.
This week, I am cross-posting the Messy City Podcast I did with Kevin Klinkenberg, recorded at CNU32 in Cincinnati last month.
Kevin has long been a leader in the industry, an architect, and a civic leader. He now devotes substantial time to advocating for better cities through various media efforts.
I share a lot with Kevin. We are similar ages, with similar urban development experiences and marginally successful book-writing carreers. He describes himself:
Born into the world as part of an overlooked and cynical generation, I've worked to overcome media narratives and self-important Baby Boomers for 48 years. That, and I've done a fair amount of work as an urban designer, architect, planner, form-based coder, redeveloper and wanna-be musician. I'm grateful for the few people per week that seem to enjoy this blog, and I wrote a book called "Why I Walk" in 2014 that sold nearly a few dozen copies.
I also appreciate his stanza on Daniel Burnham’s oft cities “Make no little plans - they have no magic to stir men’s blood", which, as Kevin points out, “on the next page of the Plan of Chicago, he also said this:
"It should be understood, however, that such radical changes as are proposed herein cannot possibly be realized immediately. Indeed, the aim has been to anticipate the needs of the future as well as to provide for the necessities of the present; in short, to direct the development of the city towards an end that must seem ideal, but is practical."
Kevin is an incrementalist through and through, like me. There are not enough of us. That matters, because placemaking - the art of creating remarkable and loved places within the built environment - is the exclusive domain of the incrementalist.
Kevin concludes:
Too often in the world of urban design, architecture and planning we forget to balance those two critical elements - the yin and yang of place-making: idealistic visions and practical realities; the human need for big plans and dreams and the individual's need to be able to contribute with small actions. One cannot exist without the other.
Cheers that. I appreciate Kevin’s work as a kindred spirit who defends small-scale development and perpetuates the thankless effort to recruit, train, and support the next generation of local developers who will rebuild our cities.
On the podcast, we discuss various topics and posts of mine:
I am Going to Bring Back the Sears Home
What’s Next for Jane Jacobs’ Sidewalk Ballet?
A Brief Detour to Honor My Old Lady
How North Carolina became a leader in building code reform to enable affordability.
I hope you enjoy the listen. And be sure to follow Kevin and his Messy City.