Christopher Hawthorne, Senior Critic at the Yale School of Architecture, discusses why collective spaces deserve intentional design and public support.

After over a decade as the architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times, Chris took a position as the first Chief Design Officer of the City of Los Angeles, working under Mayor Eric Garcetti. When he accepted the role in 2018, he wrote a compelling letter to the readers of the LA Times. In this letter, his clear and innovative goals for the development of the city captured my attention, and it’s what we build our conversation around in this episode. Chris provides a new vision for tackling deep urban issues in big cities.

Chris’s expertise is decorated by an Emmy award, numerous publications, his time in city government and, now, teaching at the Yale School of Architecture. It is his mission to elevate the quality of our public development, without sacrificing sustainability, that is inspiring the next generation of real estate leaders.

Related Episodes:

• Mitchell Silver | Commissioner of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
• Mikael Colville-Andersen | Author & Founder of Copenhagenize Design Company
• Andrés Duany | Founder of Congress for the New Urbanism/DPZ CoDesign
• Phil Freelon | Lead Architect of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
• John Rahaim | Planning Director for the City of San Francisco
• Art Gensler & Riki Nishimura | Gensler
• Andy Cohen | Co-CEO of Gensler

Resources:

• Los Angeles Times Article

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