1. PETER CALTHORPE
âą Peter Calthorpe (born 1949) is a San Francisco-
based architect, urban designer and urban
planner. He is a founding member of the Congress
for New Urbanism a Chicago-based advocacy
group formed in 1992 that promotes sustainable
building practices.
2. BIOGRAPHY
âą Calthorpe was born in London and raised in Palo Alto. He attended
the Yale School of Architecture.
âą He has taught at U.C. Berkeley, the University of Washington,
the University of Oregon, and the University of North Carolina.
âą In 1989, he proposed the concept of "Pedestrian Pocket" an up to 110
acres (45 ha) pedestrian friendly, transit linked, mixed-use urban area
with a park at its centre. The Pedestrian Pocket mixes low-rise high-
density housing, commercial and retail uses. The concept had a
number of similarities with Ebenezer Howard's Garden City and
aimed to be an alternative to the then usual low-density residential
suburban developments.
3. DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Cities and suburbs across the globe are facing a crisis of livability, traffic and cost; a crisis with profound
economic, environmental, and social dimensions. The solutions involve new land use patterns that
connect now isolated enclaves into mixed-use communities. Calthorpe Associates is a leader in the
field of planning for such mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented places -- places that are human scale,
affordable, and diverse; that re-integrate home and work; transit and auto use; civic identity and
commercial activity; human needs and ecological limits. Newsweek Magazine claims our concepts
for cities, towns, and suburbs have defined a new direction in planning and growth for the nation.
Grounded in a history of pioneering work in Sustainable Communities, New Urbanism,
Transit Oriented Development, and Regional Planning, Calthorpe Associates is now internationally
recognized as a leader in urban design, community planning, and regional growth strategies.
Since 1983 the firm has assisted private and public clients in shaping progressive forms of growth
and redevelopment â forms that help reestablish a sense of place, scale, history and environmental
balance
within the built environment.
4. Writings
âą Calthorpe, Peter and Sim Van der
Ryn (1986). Sustainable Communities: A
New Design Synthesis for Cities, Suburbs
and Towns.
âą Pedestrian Pocket Book, 1989
âą The Next American Metropolis: Ecology,
Community, and the American Dream
âą Calthorpe, Peter and Fulton,
William: The Regional City
âą Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change