CHPC - Citizens Housing and Planning Council

Paul Goldberger, the Architectural Critic for The New Yorker, has written its celebrated “Sky Line” column since 1997. He also holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School in New York City. He was formerly Dean of Parsons The New School for Design. He began his career at The New York Times, where in 1984 his architecture criticism was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, the highest award in journalism.

Alex Garvin, President and CEO of Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc. has combined a career in urban planning and real estate with teaching, architecture, and public service. Over the last 39 years, he has held prominent positions in five New York City administrations, including Deputy Commissioner of Housing and City Planning Commissioner. He is currently President and CEO of Alex Garvin & Associates, a planning and design firm in New York City that specializes in the public realm, and Adjunct Professor of Urban Planning and Management at Yale University.

International Symposium
Thursday, September 24, 8.30am-2.30pm
Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street

This symposium brought together six housing design and planning experts from Tokyo, Barcelona, Leipzig, Montreal and San Diego, who will shared their unique insight into designing and planning compact, shared, and flexible housing for real 21st Century households.

Azby Brown (Tokyo) is a Professor of Architectural Design at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology and founder and director of the Future Design Institute within the Institute. He writes extensively about compact housing including books such as ‘Small Spaces’, ‘The Very Small Home’ and ‘The Japanese Dream House’.

Avi Friedman (Montreal) is a Professor at McGill School of Architecture and the founder and director of its Affordable Homes Program. He is known nationally and internationally for his housing innovation and in particular for the Grow Home, a rowhouse designed to allow the interior to be altered to fit the space needs and budget of the owner. He is the author of seven books on housing, a practicing architect and the recipient of numerous awards. In the year 2000 he was selected by Wallpaper magazine as 1 of 10 people from around the world “most likely to change the way we live.”

Vicente Guallart (Barcelona) is the director of the new Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. He has designed many housing projects that incorporate new technologies and are specifically designed as mixed-use, for a mixture of household types. His housing development ‘Sociopolis’ featured in a MOMA exhibit in New York City in 2006 on Spanish architecture.

Iris Reuther (Leipzig) is the founder and principal of the Office for Urban Projects; one of the first woman-owned technical planning firms to emerge from the former GDR. Dr. Reuther’s work focuses on developing mixed-use environments in areas of low demand and economic adversity.

Ted Smith (San Diego) is an innovative architect who founded the firm Smith and Others. He also works as a developer-builder committed to producing alternative densities inclusive of diverse economies and types of dwelling. Ted Smith’s “Go-Homes,” developed in the 1980s-90s, were re-imagined versions of the one family house to accommodate multiple unrelated single persons.

Tomoyuki Utsumi (Tokyo) founded Milligram Architectural Studio in Tokyo in 1998. He is at the forefront of the movement to revolutionize the way that Tokyoites live, from developing compact homes for single person households to reworking apartments so that generations of a family can easily live together. Mr Utsumi is also a lecturer at Keio University.

Rosanne Haggerty (Chair) – Founder and President, Common Ground Community
Rosanne Haggerty, a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, is a national leader in homelessness strategies in the United States. She is the President and Founder of Common Ground Community H.D.F.C., Inc., a New York City based non-profit organization dedicated to finding innovative solutions to homelessness.

Jerilyn Perine (Director) – Executive Director, Citizens Housing & Planning Council
Jerilyn Perine is Executive Director of the Citizens Housing & Planning Council and an urban planner with 30 years of experience in housing and community development in New York City's neighborhoods. She served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development from September 2000 until March 2004.

Sarah Watson (Project Manager) – Policy Analyst, Citizens Housing & Planning Council: Sarah, a London-born housing policy expert, joined CHPC in 2007. She has experience in development and management of affordable housing projects in London and holds an MSc in Housing and Regeneration Policy from the London School of Economics.

Mark Alexander – Founder and President, Alexander Development Group: Mark is a leading practitioner in transforming blighted urban neighborhoods into attractive and economically thriving communities. He is the founder of Alexander Development Group (ADG), a company that seeks to revitalize emerging market neighborhoods.

Matthew Blesso – Founder and President, Blesso Properties: Matthew, as principal of Blesso Properties, produces unique and stunning environments that preserve the charm and community of their existing neighborhoods. His small-scale residential developments in Greenwich Village and Chelsea have won design awards such as the 2004 AIA NY Chapter Housing Design Award and the 2008 Interior Design Magazine Best of Year Award for a sustainable residence.

Hope Cohen – Associate Director, Regional Plan Association’s Center for Urban Innovation: Until very recently, Hope was deputy director of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Rethinking Development, where she focused principally on issues of urban environment and infrastructure, publishing Rethinking Environmental Review and The Neighborly Substation, in which she analyzed electrical substations in the U.S., U.K., and Japan.

Mark Ginsberg, FAIA – Founding Partner of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects: Mark is a founding partner of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects and has led award-winning projects including the Morrisania Air Rights Houses Master Plan for the New York City Housing Authority; the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning; the institutional and multi-family facility for the Fortune Society in Upper Manhattan, East Harlem Cornerstone; Liberty Train Shed Restoration Master Plan; Malta Street four-story walkups in Brooklyn, and numerous planning and zoning studies, institutional and multi-family projects.

Amie Gross, AIA – Founder and Principal, Amie Gross Architects: Founded in 1984, Amie Gross Architects serves the public and private sectors. The firm's collaborative team approach is headed by founder and principal Amie Gross, AIA, a native New Yorker and graduate of Washington University's School of Architecture, St. Louis.

Lucille McEwen – President and CEO, Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement: Lucille McEwen is an attorney and housing expert whose career has included key positions in New York City government and the not-for-profit sector; she has been a leader in housing policy and program development for more than two decades.

Paul Selver – Co-Chair of the Land Use Department, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel: Paul has been engaged in private law practice in New York City since 1972. His practice encompasses all aspects of land use and development law, with a special emphasis on environmental, zoning, and historic preservation.

Mark Strauss, FAIA – Senior Partner, FXFOWLE Architects: Mark is Senior Partner in Charge of Planning and Urban Design at FXFOWLE. As 2006 President of the AIA New York Chapter, Mark’s theme was “Architecture as Public Policy” and he was an advocate for nurturing a greater appreciation for architectural and urban design excellence throughout the city.

We would especially like to thank our host partners, the Japan Society for their support and collaboration which helped shape our project.