Michael Mehaffy
Michael Mehaffy, Ph.D. is a development consultant, planner, designer, author, educator, researcher, and executive director of the International Making Cities Livable (IMCL) conference series as well as the Oregon-based Sustasis Foundation. He was the first Director of Education for The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment in London, and an advisor to the then-Prince of Wales. His education program developed there later evolved into Master’s and Ph.D. programs in sustainable urbanism at the University of Oxford.
A tale of two futures
Urbanism will play a key role in a choice between an “age of human capital” and an age of depletion and division.
We need ‘Goldilocks,’ not ‘voodoo,’ urbanism
Cities generate benefits from concentrations of talent—but also from “spreading it around.” Striking a balance results in more equity and a more resilient economy.
Why we need ‘plug and play urbanism’
New Urbanism needs an optimum combination of standardization and customization, drawing lessons from other industries—and from natural systems.