David Gamble (MAUD ’97), lecturer in urban planning and design, appeared on National Public Radio’s “Here & Now” show on Tuesday, September 13 to discuss recent book Rebuilding the American City: Design and Strategy for the 21st Century Urban Core with cohost Robin Young. Gamble coauthored the book in January 2016 with Patty Heyda (MArch ’00), assistant professor of architecture and urban design at Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts. (Heyda was a participant in last spring’s GSD conference, “Voices and Visions of St. Louis.”)
In the book, Gamble and Heyda highlight 15 urban design and planning projects in the United States that have been catalysts for their downtowns and implemented largely during the recent economic crisis. Cities with projects covered in the book include Chattanooga, Tennessee; Buffalo, New York; and Atlanta, Georgia, among others.
Gamble and Heyda also offer five paradigms for redevelopment and a range of perspectives on the complexities, successes, and challenges inherent to rebuilding American cities today. On “Here & Now,” they unpacked some specific examples of these projects and paradigms.
“There are certain organic and entrepreneurial efforts to rebuild in smaller areas, and these pockets of energy are increasingly more effective than top-down, large scale master plans that might take 20 or 30 years to come to fruition,” Gamble says.
Gamble has been a lecturer at the GSD since 2009. He is principal of Gamble Associates based in Cambridge; the practice focuses on urban revitalization and community development.
The full interview, accompanied by photography, is available on the “Here & Now” website.
Complete information about the book can be found via Routledge, the book’s publisher.