TEDxPhilly: Why Skyscrapers are Overrated / Inga Saffron

Inga Saffron, the architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, challenges cities to look beyond their “skyscraper fantasies and dreams of increased tourism”, suggesting they work to improve and build amenities that will make urban areas better places to live for the existing dwellers. She believes public spaces should be the priority and that cities should focus on upgrading transit systems, adding bike lanes to all major roadways, increasing walkability, creating and maintaining great parks and public plazas. Cities need a range of densities, this would allow for greater flexibility.

Inga Saffron has written about urban design issues for more than a decade. As an architecture critic, she has reviewed many of the most memorable new projects of the era, however her primary interest is centered on the less-heralded places that people encounter in their daily lives. As a 2011-12 Leob Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Saffron is exploring how cities can retain their district identities in a globalized, interconnected world, while remaining viable places to work and live.

Reference: TEDx, DI