Monday, October 26, 2015

Lean Urbanism: An Introduction

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of listening to a lecture by Andres Duany at Rice University. The lecture was part of a three day People + Nature Conference in Houston. The Conference focused on how to create cities that are "well connected, walkable, bikable places designed for human connectivity (. . .)  rich with nature, wildlife, and local food."

Andres Duany is an architect, urban planner, and founder of the Congress of New Urbanism. You may know him as the developer of Seaside, Florida (the town featured in the Truman Show). I had visited Seaside a few years back and was charmed by the personality of the town, the easy accessibility of restaurants and stores, and the seemingly effortless integration of nature with architecture. During his lecture, the charismatic Mr. Duany concentrated on the concept of "Lean Urbanism"; Lean Urbanism is "is small-scale, incremental community-building that requires fewer resources to incubate and mature." My favorite highlights of the lecture include: Detroit as "the next Brooklyn," Pink Zones, Tony Goldman's development of the Wynwood Arts District, Woodbury University, Auburn University's Rural Studio, and the Vietnamese District in New Orleans.

While not the same lecture, you can listen to Andres Duany speak here:





To learn more about his work visit his Website here.

To view more videos featured on People + Nature website about nature in our cities here.



Keep Exploring!
xoxo,
The Bayou Botanist


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