Regional and Urban Design Committee

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  • 1.  How Design Professionals Can Find the North Star in the Fog of Upheaval

    Posted 03-03-2025 12:42 PM

    How Design Professionals Can Find the North Star in the Fog of Upheaval 

    Missing Guardrails and Signposts

    There has been a lot of talk about the missing guardrails that would keep government in check and democracy intact. However, there is less discussion about the suddenly missing guideposts and milestones that disappeared overnight. Professionals who are guided not only by rules, codes, and regulations but also by societal values.

    Firm in the center of turmoil: The North Star (Image: NASA)
    Developers rely on these frameworks to prioritize and direct their projects. Uncertainty, confusion, and ambiguity caused by the current blitzkrieg on the status quo are the enemies of a safe environment for investment.

    The tectonic shifts in Washington have removed many markers that design professionals also use to ensure they are on the right path. If objectives such as sustainability, carbon footprint, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are suddenly declared undesirable and obsolete, it is as disorienting as disappearing highway signs, malfunctioning GPS. Withdrawing funding for certain work is like the gas stations along a planned journey have been removed.
    Just soldiering on isn't an option. The last time climate change and "woke" policies appeared in the crosshairs of the federal administration, local and state governments doubled down on implementing these policies. This time, with the funding sledgehammer  and edicts that reach down to the local level and even to private projects which are dependent on grants, subsidies it will be more difficult. Regardless of where we operate, a wide range of our projects will be deeply affected....(READ FULL ARTICLE)


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    [Klaus] Philipsen FAIA
    Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
    Baltimore MD
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    AIA26 San Diego June 10-13


  • 2.  RE: How Design Professionals Can Find the North Star in the Fog of Upheaval

    Posted 03-03-2025 08:58 PM

    Politicians on no side are assisting in this matter that is most clearly and properly stated in the last paragraph seen when I entered 'Read More.' Each politician is in some way a fog machine when it comes to good sense. It seems that what should be the result of good reasoning is not found because the process of reasoning is not happening, and if at all, certainly not well enough, or with a clearly rational purpose.

    Following that, today I read a note from an architect friend that said his city was planning to add parking to the city's center, and he commented in paraphrase: 'That is yet another reason not to go there.' I thought he was correct. That led me to this idea: What would happen if all parking was removed from the center?  In reference to my above statement, several things clearly stand in the way of good sense, especially the fact that for getting government funding for anything you will have to get the politicians in line supporting whatever is proposed. The other arena is that of who benefits, especially monetarily. Will the fog created ever move away to show clarity?  With the manner in which politics and money are mixed that is an extremely serious challenge.

    Your excellent references to Aristotle's 'Ethics' and Vitruvius are outstanding indicators of the high quality thinking you have applied to this. I very much appreciate that.     



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    Roy F. Knight, FAIA, NCARB
    Practitioner, Architecture and Urban Design Consultant
    Knight Associates
    Tallahassee, Florida, USA
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    AIA26 San Diego June 10-13


  • 3.  RE: How Design Professionals Can Find the North Star in the Fog of Upheaval

    Posted 03-04-2025 06:57 PM
    Thank you, Roy.  Your 
    Knowing many politicians, the economics of sustainability is something that is foreign to them - no that they don't understand it, but that they are constantly being accosted by many who are largely only emotionally-invested and not looking at the subjects logically, factually and economically. MOST politicians that I know really do want to do the right thing, and we, as citizen architects, need to help them raise their heads above the fog to use their good sense. 

    I also am not practicing architecture in the traditional sense any longer, but in an advisory capacity and recently had the opportunity to advise a top university on some of their university standards.  This university's well-meaning Sustainability Committee, which wields significant power in the academic realm and influences university policies and building design decisions, is pushing for full electrification of everything on their campus.  They have a campus heating system, that while being natural gas-powered, is highly efficient and clean burning.  I further explained to them that by pushing for full electrification, they were causing significant redesign to the campus infrastructure, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while the utility they purchase electricity from generates 60% of their power from burning coal.  Ultimately, full electrification would take their larger community backwards, and their more energy could make a difference by looking beyond their campus and assisting their local utility to seek alternate means of generating electricity before they add to the electrical load.

    Also, the Parking Reform Network (www.parkingreform.org) is a grassroots organization that is making a difference in a number of communities and developing a large library of research about the negative impacts of parking, mandated parking requirements and poorly-placed parking.  This might help your friend.....

    Stephen B. Lafferty, AIA MBA LEEDap bd+c 





    Original Message
    AIA26 San Diego June 10-13


  • 4.  RE: How Design Professionals Can Find the North Star in the Fog of Upheaval

    Posted 03-05-2025 04:02 PM

    Reading your message was like taking a deep breath of fresh air. Clearly we are in agreement. Thank you



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    Roy F. Knight, FAIA, NCARB
    Practitioner, Architecture and Urban Design Consultant
    Knight Associates
    Tallahassee, Florida, USA
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    Original Message
    AIA26 San Diego June 10-13


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