Peter Calthorpe
From: John Gear (catalystpacifier.com)
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 95 19:16 PDT
> Regarding your "Anyone following Peter Calthorpe?" comment and his work on
>front porches - who is he? has he written articles and/or published scholarly
>stuff? Do you have an email or phone number? 
>Thanks in advance.

Philip Langdon's new book "A Better Place to Live--Reshaping the American
Suburb" discusses (positively) Calthorpe's work at length.  Calthorpe also
has six separate entries in the index.

For those who missed my last post on this, Langdon's book is just out on
Harper Collins, ISBN 0-06-097661-6.  It has a nice extensive "Suggested
Further Reading" list, in which you can find a reference to

Calthorpe, Peter.  THE NEXT AMERICAN METROPOLIS: Ecology, Community, and the
American Dream (NY, Princeton Architectural Press, 1993).

(As a prophylactic measure, I should add that it does *not* list any books
or articles by Jan Gehl and Gehl doesn't appear in the index -- but then, ;^), 
neither is there any Pasternak--sorry Harry, couldn't resist.)

I interviewed Langdon for a community radio station here--he seemed like a
good egg.  Best moment:  In my best devil's advocate voice I asked him why
we needed planning--"Won't the market provide what people want?"; he looked
at me for a second with what I can only interpret as a "Is he drooling?  Is
the door studio door locked?" look before I must have smirked slightly
because he laughed out loud and said "Oh, you're joking!"

He also said that Portland, OR and others were insane for offering subsidies
to big chip makers to move into the surrounding counties, driving *exactly*
the kind of disastrous developments that Langdon documented so well.

He didn't show much interest in talking about cohousing--said that he only
had a hazy understanding of it but that he heard that it took years to do.
He also said he wanted more privacy options than that.  But certainly his
prescriptions for a livable place (what I have taken to calling "humane
design") are on the nose with at least part of what cohousing provides.

I recommend the book highly.  You could be subversive and push that book
*before* the Cohousing Book -- Langdon can open their eyes to the problem,
and then you can offer them a solution with cohousing (always better to sell
things if someone else is the one saying negative things).  Just a thought.

J.

John Gear (catalyst [at] pacifier.com)

The Bill of Rights--The Original Contract with America
Accept no substitutes.  Beware of imitations.  Insist on the genuine articles.

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