The need for a shift among city planners from over-developed, crowded urban areas to a more people-friendly and less crowded city was the topic of discussion in a lecture given Sunday by Rutherford Platt.
The lecture, "The Ecological City," was the sixth presentation in a seven-part interdisciplinary lecture series entitled "Visions for the American West." The presentation addressed problems stemming from overdeveloped urban areas and the need to change perceptions of nature in cities and also examined ways to preserve and restore biodiversity on a metropolitan scale.
"The connection between humans and nature is extraordinary," said Platt, a geography professor at the University of Massachusetts. "Restoration projects, regardless of how modest, have a significant impact on the living conditions of all of us."
The lecture included slide images of failed attempts of urban development, such as cramped housing developments in inner cities that were "doomed to become stark reminders of our tendency away from human well being and toward corporate profit," Platt said.
Platt's presentation also included images of revitalization projects that have taken place as early as the late 1800's that have succeeded in making cities once again tolerable.
"The purpose of this lecture is to bring the lessons of a whole bunch of cities to one city," said Charles Little, president of American Land Publishing Project and one of the organizers of the lecture series. "Albuquerque is fast becoming more urban, and this lecture provides a good perspective to have before moving into the major urban development stage and instrumental in avoiding the problems made in the past."
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The lecture series, organized in part by the UNM Geography Department, will feature seven one-hour-long lectures during the course of the academic year, meant to provide up-to-date, authoritative reports on the ever-changing status and evolving issues of the American West.
"This lecture is a powerful force for transformation of our concept of what the West is," said James Burbank, a lecturer in the English department.
"This is an attempt to revise our definition of what a city is," Burbank said.
Burbank added that many people are not in tune with the concept that cities are alive, and that their development deserves a detailed examination, as their structure has a direct correlation to its population's overall well-being. "This is an attempt at recreating our urban world," Burbank said.
Platt's examples of cities optimizing the benefit of open space and understanding the urban ecology within their city limits were designed to show the mutually beneficial relationship that can be achieved by making the most of natural resources.
"Multiple uses of natural spaces, alternative scales of intervention, institutional flexibility and innovation and the role of science in urban design are often overlooked," Platt said. "The blind forces of urbanization show no aptitude for being self-sustainable or self-renewing."
Formerly a staff attorney for the Open Lands Project in Chicago, Platt is also a member of the Illinois Bar Association. He has served on numerous committees for the National Academy of Sciences and is the author of several renowned monographs.
