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Preface

The majority of the pieces in this collection were first published in Architectural Record magazine and I’d like to thank Robert Ivy and Clifford Pearson for offering me a place to say pretty much what I chose for so many years. A couple of the longer essays appeared in the Harvard Design Magazine and I’m indebted to William Saunders for his staunch support and encouragement. Many of the 9/11-related pieces in this volume were collected in Starting from Zero and I’d like to give a shout out to the great Dave McBride, formerly of Routledge, who saw that volume through. (I did debate leaving these pieces out but the volume seemed wrong without them, and so I’ve included a substantial selection, some trimmed, others merged to eliminate repetition and breathless deadline lapses. Forbearance please for remaining auto-cannibalization, self-plagarism and the overworking of many words and phrases, including “Manichean,” “difference,” “effects,” “public-private partnerships,” and “zillions.”) Thanks too to Tom Penn for his comradely midwifery and to Verso for a third vote of confidence in this fellow traveler. Special thanks to Trudy Giordano, Maia Peck, and Zoë Blackler for their help in organizing the manuscript and tracking down many a misplaced file.

The period covered in this volume coincides with my directorship of the Graduate Program in Urban Design at the City College of New York, and I express my gratitude to my dear friend Dean George Ranalli for giving me an open space in which to work (not to mention tenure and health insurance) and for helping to gather a congenial and dedicated group of colleagues to further the mission of this extraordinary institution. While the Trots and the Stalinoids may no longer throw spitballs from their separate tables at the cafeteria, CCNY continues its grand tradition of progressive tolerance and its goal of making higher education available to all. I do love the thrill each year of welcoming students from across the planet to share the adventure of imagining happy, just, and sustainable futures for our cities. I dedicate this volume to them.