Though clearly a tragedy, the destruction of the Twin Towers offers a chance to fix one of city planning's blunders.
When the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation releases its six contending proposals for the WTC site on Tuesday, they will reflect not only an intense debate over the future of downtown Manhattan, but what a modern city should be. "The essence of the debate goes back decades: whether cities should be dominated by towering projects or human-scale street life. The issue now is whether the planners should restore the street grid that the World Trade Center's 16-acre plaza tore apart 30 years ago or whether they should keep the area a plaza, set apart from the city's roar...Most people who think about cities agree that the original design of the World Trade Center was a big mistake. They are pained by its destruction - the loss of life, the shattering of security, the gaping hole in the skyline. But in retrospect, many wish it had never been built."
Thanks to Christian Peralta
FULL STORY: 'Human scale' battles 'monumental' at WTC
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research