Big picture urban designer to open the Mayor’s Inspire series. Greenberg to speak on

By Staff

BURLINGTON, ON, March 14, 2012  One of the best urban thinkers in North America is coming to Burlington in April and will be the first speaker in Mayor Rick Goldring’s 2012 Inspire series.

Ken Greenberg is an architect, urban designer, teacher, writer, former Director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City of Toronto. Greenberg has played a pivotal role in public and private assignments in urban settings throughout North America and Europe for the past three decades.  He has focused on the rejuvenation of downtowns, waterfronts, neighborhoods and on campus master planning, regional growth management, and new community planning.

With Burlington chewing away on a Beachway Master Plan, a Transit Master Plan and gearing up for the next review and revision of the Official Plan and toiling away at the same time on its Downtown Core vision, Greenberg’s visit could not be more opportune.

The event is to take place April 11th in the Studio Theatre at the Performing Arts Centre.  That space holds just 200 people – so register now if you want a seat.  When Andre Picard, one f the country’s leading health policy thinkers spoke last year there weren’t a lot of empty seats.

If designer Greenberg were advising Burlington on what to do with our Beachway would he suggest something similar to what he did for Toronto’s Harbourfront?

For over three decades Greenberg has played a pivotal role on public and private assignments in urban settings throughout North America and Europe, focusing on the rejuvenation of downtowns, waterfronts, neighborhoods and on campus master planning, regional growth management, and new community planning. Cities as diverse as Toronto, Hartford, Amsterdam, New York, Boston, Montréal, Washington DC, Paris, Detroit and San Juan Puerto Rico have benefited from his advocacy and passion for restoring the vitality, relevance and sustainability of the public realm in urban life.

During that three decades of experience, Greenberg has managed large multi-disciplinary staff and consultant groups for both the public and private sectors. He applies a holistic approach to city building, crossing traditional boundaries and working in team settings collaborating with many talented professionals from a variety of disciplines. In each city, with each project, his strategic, consensus-building approach has led to coordinated planning and a renewed focus on urban design. He is the recipient of the 2010 American Institute of Architects Thomas Jefferson Award for public design excellence and the author of Walking Home: the Life and Lessons of a City Builder.

To fully appreciate what Greenberg brings to this Inspire session a closer look at some of his projects and their relevance to Burlington is worth the effort.

He did the Harbourfront Center Master Plan, Toronto, ON, he also did the FilmPort Toronto Film Studios complex on the Toronto Waterfront, Toronto, ON

While this one didn’t go very far he was the mind behind Master Plan for Adaptive Re-Use of the Hearn Power Plant, Toronto ON

If McMaster University had not reneged on their agreement with Burlington to locate a campus in the downtown core – might this have been what Inspire speaker Greenberg would have designed?

Greenberg did the Master Plan for Ryerson University, Toronto, ON as well as the Master Plan for University of Toronto, Toronto, ON and the Master Plan for York University, Toronto, ON. He also did the Master Plan for the Renewal of Regent Park, a major public housing project in Toronto

Inspire speaker Greenberg who will be in Burlington April 11 was a consultant on the thinking behind how Toronto would make the Don River a more integral part of the city.

Greenberg is currently working on the Lower Don Lands, planning for the mouth of the Don River at Toronto Harbour, addressing urban design, transportation, naturalization, sustainability and other ecological issues, Toronto, ON

The work Greenberg did on the Transit Hub Studies for Port Credit and Cooksville, Mississauga, ON should make interesting listening for the Burlington transit people

Other speakers in the Inspire series included Chris Hume Architecture critic at the Toronto Star, Gil Penalosa, Tom Rand, author of Kicking the Fossil Fuel Habit  and Andre Picard who suggested that Burlington might want to take a second look at what it really needed in terms of hospital renewal.

 

 

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