The architect and urban designer Ken Greenberg discusses his new book, Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder (Random House, 2011), part memoir and part prescription for rejuvenating our cities, with Joseph Planta.

Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder by Ken Greenberg. (Random House, 2011) Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver at TheCommentary.ca.

I’ve just started reading Ken Greenberg’s new book, Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder. It promises to be an important and necessary book as it looks at our cities, how they’re built, how liveable they are now and in the very near future. Mr. Greenberg, principal of Greenberg Consultants, is an architect, urban designer, teacher, writer and former director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City of Toronto. In this highly readable book he tells his own story, where he grew up, where he’s lived and worked, and the ideals of good city planning he’s gleaned from those places. The post Second World War exodus to suburbia came at the expense of ideal urban living. We’re going back to it, thanks to rising cost of energy, and in how to go back the book is highly instructive. In 2010, Ken Greenberg was the recipient of the American Institute of Architects Thomas Jefferson Award for public design excellence. The website for more is at www.greenbergconsultants.com. The book is published by Random House. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program in Toronto, Ken Greenberg; Good morning, Mr. Greenberg.

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