Showing papers on "Urbanism published in 2009"

Neoliberal Urbanism: Models, Moments, Mutations

Abstract: In this article, we analyze the connections between neoliberalization processes and urban transformations. Cities have become strategically central sites in the uneven, crisis-laden advance of neoliberal restructuring projects. However, in contrast to neoliberal ideology, our analysis draws attention to the path-dependent interactions between neoliberal projects of restructuring and inherited institutional and spatial landscapes. Accordingly, we emphasize the geographically variable, yet multiscalar and translocally interconnected, nature of neoliberal urbanism. We also suggest that cities are sites of serial policy failure as well as resistance to neoliberal programs of urban restructuring. For these reasons, urban regions provide an important reference point for understanding some of the limits, contradictions and mutations of the neoliberal project since the 1990s.

Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change

Abstract: This is a visionary guide to developing cities that are livable, sustainable, and 'resilient'. Half of the world's inhabitants now live in cities. In the next twenty years, the number of urban dwellers will swell to an estimated five billion people. With their inefficient transportation systems and poorly designed buildings, many cities - especially in the United States - consume enormous quantities of fossil fuels and emit high levels of greenhouse gases. But our planet is rapidly running out of the carbon-based fuels that have powered urban growth for centuries and we seem to be unable to curb our greenhouse gas emissions. Are the world's cities headed for inevitable collapse?The authors of this spirited book don't believe that oblivion is necessarily the destiny of urban areas. Instead, they believe that intelligent planning and visionary leadership can help cities meet the impending crises, and look to existing initiatives in cities around the world. Rather than responding with fear (as a legion of doomsaying prognosticators have done), they choose hope.First, they confront the problems, describing where we stand today in our use of oil and our contribution to climate change. They then present four possible outcomes for cities: 'collapse,' 'ruralized,' 'divided,' and 'resilient.' In response to their scenarios, they articulate how a new 'sustainable urbanism' could replace today's 'carbon-consuming urbanism.' They address in detail how new transportation systems and buildings can be feasibly developed to replace our present low-efficiency systems. In conclusion, they offer ten 'strategic steps' that any city can take toward greater sustainability and resilience.This is not a book filled with 'blue sky' theory (although blue skies will be a welcome result of its recommendations). Rather, it is packed with practical ideas, some of which are already working in cities today. It frankly admits that our cities have problems that will worsen if they are not addressed, but it suggests that these problems are solvable. And the time to begin solving them is now.

China's Emerging Neoliberal Urbanism: Perspectives from Urban Redevelopment

Abstract: China's urbanization is undergoing profound neoliberal shifts, within which urban redevelopment has emerged in the forefront of neoliberalization. This study aims to understand China's emerging neoliberal urbanism by examining the association between urban redevelopment and neoliberalism. Rather than a deliberate design, neoliberalization in China is a response to multiple difficulties/crises and the desire for rapid development. The neoliberalization process is full of controversies and inconsistencies, which involve conflicts between neoliberal practices and social resistance, and tensions between central and local states. Nevertheless, China's neoliberal urbanism has a responsive and resilient system to cope with the contradictions and imbalances inherent in neoliberalism. Meanwhile, neoliberal urbanism is more tangible at the sub-national scale, since the local state can most effectively assist neoliberal experiments and manage crises. This study not only contributes to the understanding of China's neoliberal urbanism, but also has multiple implications for neoliberalism studies in general. First, in examining the interrelationship between the state and market, it is the actual effect of legitimizing and facilitating market operation rather than the presence (or absence) of the state that matters. Second, a new nexus of governance has formed in the neoliberalization process. Not only the nation state but also the local state is of great significance in assisting and managing neoliberal projects. Third, this study further validates the importance and necessity of scrutinizing neoliberal practices, in particular the controversies and inconsistencies within the neoliberalization process.

Small Cities? Towards a Research Agenda

Abstract: This article asserts the importance of studying small cities. We argue that small cities have been ignored by urban theorists who, in seeking to conceptualize broad urban agendas and depict generalizable models (for example relating to epochal urbanism, the structure and nature of the urban hierarchy, global cities and global city-regions), have tended to obscure as much as they illuminate. Given that study of ‘the city’ has been vital to broader advances in the social sciences, this neglect of smaller urban centres has profound consequences for urban studies. We argue that this situation needs to be rectified. We review literature relating to small cities and signpost a future research agenda. In doing so, we highlight how conceptual and empirical research into small cities can contribute to broader arguments that have championed the necessity of developing sophisticated and nuanced comparative approaches to understanding the complexity of cities and urban life. This article challenges urbanists to think big about thinking small.

Urban ecological security : a new urban paradigm?

Abstract: The term ‘ecological security’ is usually used in relation to attempts to safeguard flows of ecological resources, infrastructure and services at the national scale. But increasing concerns over ‘urban ecological security’ (UES) are now giving rise to strategies to reconfigure cities and their infrastructures in ways that help to secure their ecological and material reproduction. Yet cities have differing capacities and capabilities for developing strategic responses to the opportunities and constraints of key UES concerns. These include resource constraints and climate change, and consequently these newly emerging strategies may selectively privilege particular urban areas and particular social interests over others. In this article, we focus on world cities and outline the challenges posed by the growing concern for UES. We review the emerging responses that may increasingly form a new dominant ‘logic’ of infrastructure provision, which we characterize as Secure Urbanism and Resilient Infrastructure (SURI). We conclude by addressing the extent to which this new dominant ‘logic’ underpins a new strategy of accumulation or more ‘progressive’ politics by outlining alternatives to SURI, possibilities for shaping SURI more ‘progressively’ and developing an agenda for future research.

Becoming Places: Urbanism / Architecture / Identity / Power

Abstract: Part 1: Ideas 1. Making Sense of Place 2. Place as Assemblage 3. Silent Complicities 4. Limits of Critical Architecture Part 2: Places 5. Slippery Characters: Defending and Creating Place Identities (with Ian Woodcock and Stephen Wood) 6. Becoming Prosperous: Informal Urbanism in Yogyakarta (with Wiryono Rhajo) 7. Urbanising Architecture: Koolhaas and Spatial Segmentarity 8. Open Court: Transparency and Legitimation in the Courthouse 9. Safety Becomes Danger: Drug-Use in Public Space (with John Fitzgerald) 10. New Orders: Monas and Merdeka Square (with Eka Permanasari) 11. Urban Slippage: Smooth and Striated Streetscapes in Bangkok (with Kasama Polakit)

The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society

Abstract: 1. A long forgotten civilization 2. Geographical and environmental settings 3. From foraging to farming and pastoralism 4. An expanded world of peer polities 5. Urbanism and states: cities, regions and edge zones 6. Agrarian and craft producing economies - intensification and specialization 7. Agrarian and craft producing economies - diversification, organization of production, and exchange 8. The lure of distant lands 9. Landscapes of order and difference - the cultural construction of space, place and material access 10. The final days of urbanism and the Indus civilization: decline, transition and transformation.

Pirate Modernity: Delhi's Media Urbanism

Abstract: Introduction: After Media 1. A City of Order: The Masterplan 2. Media Urbanism 3. The Pirate Kingdom 4. Death and the Accident. Conclusion: An Information City?

Theory and Practice in Planning the Suburbs: Challenges to Implementing New Urbanism, Smart Growth, and Sustainability Principles1

Abstract: Although municipalities across Canada have adopted principles of new urbanism, smart growth, and sustainability in their planning and policy documents, new suburbs continue to reveal the influence of conventional development practices. This paper examines challenges to implementing new planning principles and reveals some of the ways that the development market selectively resists planning objectives in three Canadian urban areas. Interviews with planners, councillors, and representatives of the development industry indicate that, while land cost pressures contribute to increasing suburban densities, developers may challenge planning principles related to urban form and function. The study finds that weak political commitment and market pressures frustrate planners' desires to create accessible and open communities. Conceptual distinctions between planning approaches important to theory become blurred in practice.

Cities and Development

Abstract: For the first time in human history more people now live and towns and cities than in rural areas. In the wealthier countries of the world, the transition from predominantly rural to urban habitation is more or less complete. But in many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, urban populations are expanding rapidly. Current UN projections indicate that virtually all population growth in the world over the next 30 years will be absorbed by towns and cities in developing countries. These simple demographic facts have profound implications for those concerned with understanding and addressing the pressing global development challenges of reducing poverty, promoting economic growth, improving human security and confronting environmental change. This revised and expanded second edition of Cities and Development explores the dynamic relationship between urbanism and development from a global perspective. The book surveys a wide range of topics, including: the historical origins of world urbanization; the role cities play in the process of economic development; the nature of urban poverty and the challenge of promoting sustainable livelihoods; the complexities of managing urban land, housing, infrastructure and urban services; and the spectres of endemic crime, conflict and violence in urban areas. This updated volume also contains two entirely new chapters: one that examines the links between urbanisation and environmental change, and a second that focuses on urban governance and politics. Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, the book critically engages with debates in urban studies, geography and international development studies. Each chapter includes supplements in the form of case studies, chapter summaries, questions for discussion and suggested further readings. The book is targeted at upper-level undergraduate and graduate students interested in geography, urban studies and international development studies, as well as policy makers, urban planners and development practitioners.

The 'Infrastructure Turn' in Australian metropolitan spatial planning

Abstract: This paper argues that a recent resurgence in Australian spatial planning has been superseded by a resort to infrastructure to address urban problems. The paper uses case studies of the Melbourne and South East Queensland (Brisbane) metropolitan regions to chart the renewal of new spatial planning, after a period of neglect. This paper then shows this spatial planning renewal has given way to a new emphasis on urban infrastructure planning as the primary mode of intervention in these cities. The infrastructure turn raises important questions about the spatial planning and infrastructure of cities within a new era of global strategic challenges.

"Recolonization" and Public Housing: A Toronto Case Study

Abstract: In their study of the redevelopment of public housing in Toronto’s Regent Park, Stefan Kipfer and Jason Petrunia challenge the Third Way urbanism that largely dominates academic and political debate about housing today. Tracing the limits of “place-based” development and social policy, they argue that “the redevelopment project of Regent Park is best understood as a three-pronged, profoundly racialized economic, social, and cultural strategy to recolonize a long-pathologized and segregated, but potentially valuable central city social space in the name of ‘diversity’ and ‘social mixity.’” Borrowing from both Henri Lefebvre and Frantz Fanon, they achieve a subtle and nuanced analysis of the local class, racial, and gender relations that underpin interscalar territorial compromises.

V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution: a historical perspective on a revolution in urban studies

Abstract: ‘The Urban Revolution’ by V. Gordon Childe (Town Planning Review, 1950) is one of the most heavily cited papers ever published by an archaeologist. The intellectual context and influence of Childe's paper are examined here. Childe was the first to synthesise archaeological data with respect to the concept of urbanism, and the first to recognise the radical social transformation that came with the earliest cities and states. This paper traces the influence of his ideas and shows their relevance to studies of ancient urbanism today. Although Childe's treatment of urban planning was brief, his ideas presaged current research into ancient urban planning. The paper ends with a call for renewed interaction between scholars of ancient and modern urbanism.

Cities as Battlespace: The New Military Urbanism

Abstract: The latest in an ongoing series of papers on the links between militarism and urbanism published in City, this paper opens with an exploration of the emerging crossovers between the ‘targeting’ of everyday life in so‐called ‘smart’ border and ‘homeland security’ programmes and related efforts to delegate the sovereign power to deploy lethal force to increasingly robotized and automated war machines. Arguing that both cases represent examples of a new military urbanism, the rest of the paper develops a thesis outlining the scope and power of contemporary interpenetrations between urbanism and militarism. The new military urbanism is defined as encompassing a complex set of rapidly evolving ideas, doctrines, practices, norms, techniques and popular cultural arenas through which the everyday spaces, sites and infrastructures of cities—along with their civilian populations—are now rendered as the main targets and threats within a limitless ‘battlespace’. The new military urbanism, it is argued, rests on five ...

Indigenous Architecture and the Spanish American Plaza in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

Abstract: Plazas are often important spatial representations of society and social hierarchy. The grid-plan plazas built in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean under the direction of the Spanish have been interpreted as architectural representations of colonial control and oppression. Underlying these interpretations is the tacit assumption that plaza-centered gridded urban design was of solely European derivation, in spite of considerable evidence of pre-Columbian contributions. This chapter argues that the correspondence between indigenous forms and Spanish reconstruction—both modelled on the grid layout—is so well documented that the denial of its significance is startling. In fact, the ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence suggests that the colonial plaza evolved from both indigenous and Spanish influences and models that created a new urban design form. Consequently, cultural tensions of conquest and resistance are embedded in this urban design and accompanied architecture.

Space, Density and Urban Form

Abstract: The concentration of humans – in some cases judged as too high, in others not high enough – and the problems connected to this, have resulted in discussions on density. Prior to the 20th century, density in European cities was merely an outcome of complex circumstances. During the second half of the 19th century, high densities in industrializing cities were argued to be one of the major causes of fires, diseases and social turmoil. In this period, density was introduced as a tool to analyse and diagnose the quickly growing and often overcrowded cities. In a following period of increased state intervention, the concept expanded into an instrument used to propagate alternatives and prescribe maximum densities in order to guarantee certain physiological and social qualities of urban environments (such as air, light and privacy). We can observe a shift from urban density as a mere result of city development and migration to a tool used to analyse problems; and, later on, to an instrument applied to offer improved solutions. More recently, minimum densities are argued for to support amenities and public transport, and as part of the solution to produce more sustainable urban environments with potential for vital human interaction (‘urbanity’). In spite of the practical advantages of the concept of urban density in urban planning, critics have argued that the use of density for anything but statistical purposes is questionable, as it is perceived as a too elastic concept. Many professionals, as well as researchers, hold the opinion that measured density and other physical properties are independent of each other. Besides the argued lack of relationship between density and form, density is also considered with suspicion because of the confusion regarding the definition of plan boundaries and the scale at which these are measured. There is no one accepted measure of density in or shared by different countries. This research takes off with a critical review of the origin, content and practical usefulness of the concept of urban density, and aims at revising and reviving the concept to the benefit of both the planning and design process, and scientific research. This doesn’t mean that an old instrument is just taken out of the basement, dusted off and reignited. No, the shortcomings of the existing density measurements methods in conveying information about urban form and performance are certainly very real, as others have pointed out. Those shortcomings, however, have led many to the conclusion that the concept as such is flawed and even dangerous. We insist, though, that the problem with the most commonly used density measurements methods is one of representation and resolution, and not of the concept itself. The development of the Spacematrix method to measure density and identify a series of associated properties is the main result of this research. We have redefined density as a multivariable and multi-scalar phenomenon to counter the existing Babel-like confusion in the terminology currently being used by those working in the urban field. Further, through the use of this multivariable and multi-scalar approach, density can be related to potential urban form and other performances. This makes it possible to reposition the concept of density in the field of urban planning and design, and research. From an instrument to prescribe the programme of a given area, density can become a tool to guide both quantitative and qualitative ambitions, and thus fuse urban planning and design into true urbanism.

Defining Urban Design: CIAM Architects and the Formation of a Discipline, 1937-69

Abstract: In this meticulously researched book, Eric Mumford traces how members of the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM), such as Walter Gropius, Josep Lluis Sert, and their American associates, developed the discipline of urban design from the 1940s to the 1960s. Now widely known, this field has had significant influence in university departments and building projects around the world, but its roots in the urbanism of CIAM are not well understood. CIAM proposed a new type of architecture, one that drew on the strategies of both modern art and engineering to promote efficiency and rational city planning. Mumford challenges the idea that this modern urbanism only resulted in the clearing of historical neighborhoods in favor of the public housing that would famously fail. Rather, Mumford argues, CIAM goals were instrumental in forming the field of urban design, and it was the rejection of these goals by politicians and bureaucrats, rather than their implementation, that led to the now familiar and lamentable results of urban renewal and metropolitan sprawl.

The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, Urbanism, and Historic Preservation

Abstract: With contemporary design being redefined by architects and urbanists who are recovering the historic language associated with traditional architecture and the city, how might preservation change its focus or update its mission? Steven W. Semes, winner of the 2010 Clem Labine Award, makes a persuasive case that context matters and that new buildings and additions to old buildings should be harmonious with their neighbors. The Future of the Past was also named one of Planetizen's most noteworthy books of 2010 and one of The Atlantic Cities' "10 Most Compelling Historic Preservation Reads."

The Architecture of Community

Abstract: Leon Krier is one of the best-known - and most provocative - architects and urban theoreticians in the world. Until now, however, his ideas have circulated mostly among a professional audience of architects, city planners, and academics. In "The Architecture of Community", Krier has reconsidered and expanded writing from his 1998 book "Architecture: Choice or Fate". Here he refines and updates his thinking on the making of sustainable, humane, and attractive villages, towns, and cities. The book includes drawings, diagrams, and photographs of his built works, which have not been widely seen until now. With three new chapters, "The Architecture of Community" provides a contemporary road map for designing or completing today's fragmented communities. Illustrated throughout with Krier's original drawings, "The Architecture of Community" explains his theories on classical and vernacular urbanism and architecture, while providing practical design guidelines for creating livable towns. The book contains descriptions and images of the author's built and unbuilt projects, including the Krier House and Tower in Seaside, Florida, as well as the town of Poundbury in England. Commissioned by the Prince of Wales in 1988, Krier's design for "Poundbury in Dorset" has become a reference model for ecological planning and building that can meet contemporary needs.

Berlin’s waterfront site struggle

Abstract: In the summer of 2008, a local social movement in Berlin successfully challenged the city’s currently largest harbor front development project ‘Media Spree’. While the project, which aims to attract and develop creative industries, is a model of neo‐liberal urbanism, the paper demonstrates that in a contested city, urban development cannot adequately be explained by ‘top‐down’ approaches focusing on neo‐structuralist arguments, but that it is rather the result of a complex negotiation process. The paper thus makes the case for the relevance of analyzing social movements for understanding urban development.

Key Concepts in Urban Geography

Abstract: Introduction I Location and movement 1.1 Centrality 1.2 Mobility 1.3 Global Cities 1.4 Transnational urbanism II Constructions 2.1 Nature 2.2 Materiality 2.3 Infrastructure 2.4 Architecture III Envisioning and experience 3.1 Diagram 3.2 Photography 3.3 Body 3.4 Virtuality 3.5 Surveillance IV Social and Political Spaces 4.1 Segregation 4.2 Urban politics 4.3 Community V Sites and practices 5.1 Consumption 5.2 Media 5.3 Public space 5.4 Commemoration

Experience and Conflict: The Production of Urban Space

Abstract: When designing, planning and building urban spaces, many contradictory and conflicting actors, practices and agendas coexist. This book propounds that, at present, this process is conducted in an artificial reality, 'Concept City', characterized by a simplified and outdated conception of space. It provides a constructive critique of the concepts, underlying the practices of planning and architecture and, in order to facilitate more dynamic, inclusive and subtle practices, it formulates a new theory about space in general and public urban space in particular. The central notions in this theory are temporality, experiment and conflict, which are grounded on empirical observations in Helsinki, Manchester and Berlin. While the book contextualizes Lefebvre's ideas on urban planning and architecture, it is in no way limited to Lefebvrean discourse, but allows insights to new theoretical work, including that of Finnish and Swedish authors. In doing so, it suggests and develops exciting new approaches and tools leading to 'experiential urbanism'.

The Disappearance of the State from “Livable” Urban Spaces

Abstract: This paper examines the absence of the state from the discourses and practices of “livable” urban spaces. Drawing from an ethnography of Atlantic Station, the USA's largest new urbanist infill development, we argue that “livable” urban spaces are increasingly arenas for luxury, theater, and consumption, and that the state, while an important actor in the creation of urban spaces such as Atlantic Station, has largely been made invisible. We see this in the absence of public institutions, such as schools, parks, and libraries, and in the absence of a collective political identity among Atlantic Station patrons. The disappearance of the state in the material spaces of the city suggests that the neoliberal project of individualism and consumerism is transforming the very notion of livability and the democratic possibilities of what makes urban space “livable”.

The situationists and the city

Abstract: The French radicals at the forefront of the revolts in Paris in 1968 were re-imagining the city as a revolutionary utopia. The Situationist International (SI), led by Guy Debord and central to the Paris uprising in May 1968, published many incendiary texts on politics and art in the journal "Internationale Situationniste". One central theme to their work was rethinking the city: from a site for routine consumption and work to a utopia that breaks down barriers between function and play. In this essential volume, Tom McDonough collects together all of the SI's key essays on urbanism and the city. The book will be strikingly illustrated by images that were core to the SI project. It will include such key texts as "The Theory of Derive", "Formulary for a New Urbanism", and many previously untranslated texts, including those that came out of the Situationists' collaboration with Henri Lefebvre.

Urban Design and People

Abstract: Preface. Acknowledgements. Illustration Credits. PART ONE: BACKGROUND. Overview - how people have occupied space and who decides. 1. People and Place - how people have shaped their worlds. Introduction. Antecedents. The '60s. The "movement" and the civic environment. Organizational responses to the rise of citizen participation. Growing pains - the challenges of citizen participation. Where we may be heading. Summary. 2. Urban Design Traditions ? spatial models in the built world. Introduction. The organic tradition - naturalistic, indigenous, vernacular, incremental, informal, romantic, picturesque. The formalist tradition - planned, classical, the grid, monumental, beaux arts, the grand manner, city beautiful, new urbanism. The modernist tradition - functionalist, rational, technological, utilitarian, clean, efficient. Interactions and overlaps of the three traditions. Getting to where we are today. Environmental responses - from exploitation to balance. Design responses - from old urbanism to new urbanism. Citizen participation and urban design - from receiver to transmitter. The place design disciplines - from divergence to convergence. Summary. PART TWO: CONTENT. Overview - the elements of urban design. 3. The Physical Environment - the places people occupy. The Natural World. Introduction. The elements. topography. geology. soils. location. climate. water. air. ecosystems. Summary. The Built World - what people have done with it. Introduction. The elements. buildings. lots. blocks. streets. Synthesis - building, lot, block and street put together. Parking and utilities. The larger territories. neighborhoods. districts. towns and cities. regions. Summary. 4. Human Activity - what people have to do, want to do and where they do it. Introduction. Home. Workplace. Marketplace. Institutions. Leisure. Travel. Summary. 5. Connections - the infrastructure that connects people. Introduction. Transportation. Utilities. Communications. Summary. PART THREE: PRINCIPLES. Overview - principles for urban design theory and practice. 6. Design - design matters. Introduction. Good design makes better places. Design places to reflect the people who are or will be there. Design places consciously and holistically. Design is an essential skill. Beware of "solutionism". Design in the context of time - and motion. Summary. 7. Change - change happens. Introduction. Change dynamics. Framework for understanding and managing change. Trends in change management. The triad of vision, information and action. Provide for choice. Be ready. Summary. 8. Organization - coordination and partnership. Introduction. Leadership. Principles for guiding community organizations. Principles for guiding private sector organizations. Principles for guiding governmental organizations. Summary. PART FOUR: PROCESSES. Overview - what it takes to get it done. 9. Rules - that make places what they are. Introduction. Zoning. Comprehensive plans. Public improvement plans. Subdivision. Public works standards. Land development rules at the state and federal levels. Special purpose rules. Building and life safety rules. Financing rules. Summary. 10. Tools - using the right tool makes the job easier. Introduction. Process tools and resources. Rules to tools. Summary. 11. Techniques - using the tools. Introduction. The pieces. Navigational techniques. methodological techniques. attitudinal and behavioral considerations. Summary. PART FIVE: STRATEGIES. 12. Strategies - sample applications. Introduction. Resources. Strategic considerations for communities. Strategic considerations for urban designers. Growth choices for regions. Strategic considerations for towns and cities. District strategies - centers and corridors. Strategic considerations for neighborhoods. Summary. Bibliography. Index.

Britain's New Towns: Garden Cities to Sustainable Communities

Abstract: The New Towns Programme of 1946 to 1970 was one of the most substantial periods of urban development in Britain. The New Towns have often been described as a social experiment; so what has this experiment proved? This book covers the story of how these towns came to be built, how they aged, and the challenges and opportunities they now face as they begin phases of renewal. The new approaches in design throughout their past development reflect changes in society throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. These changes are now at the heart of the challenge of sustainable development. The New Towns provide lessons for social, economic and environmental sustainability. These lessons are of great relevance for the regeneration of twentieth century urbanism and the creation of new urban developments today.

Experiential Planning: A Practitioner's Account of Vancouver's Success

Abstract: Problem: Vancouver, BC, has achieved international acclaim for its livability and compact urban form, making it one model of good planning practice. What techniques and strategies contributed to effective planning practice in the city? Purpose: This article shares stories from a prominent practitioner in Vancouver, illuminating some of the techniques and processes planners used to help develop consensus around building a socially responsible and progressive city. Methods: The article presents results from interviews with Larry Beasley, the former director of current planning with the City of Vancouver. Excerpts from the interviews illustrate his locally situated theory of planning practice. Results and conclusions: Beasley's stories of practice are not those of a heroic planner, but affirmations of basic planning principles: good processes, practical ethics, and effective organization. Beasley's model of “experiential planning” pursues good city form and function using socially just and politically respon...