Peter Bosselmann

Urban design; communication to the public of land use and design issues and choices; computer applications to visual simulation, urban morphology and typology.

I have a passion for cities, their form and the life that is supported by good city design. In my teaching I emphasize the making of architecture, as an important aspect of city building. I ask my students to study streets and neighborhoods in order to better understand how conditions have come about, what has changed over time, what is likely to change in the future and why. My students study the ongoing transformation of cities, their morphologies and spatial analysis of streets, blocks, and buildings. An important part of my work is related to representation and visualization. Together with my students I bring parts of the city into the laboratory to experiment with old and new spatial concepts, to examine issues of scale and the perception of movement through space and time.

Peter Bosselmann works nationally and internationally on urban design and planning projects. He established urban simulation laboratories in Milan, New York City, and Tokyo, modeled after the Berkeley laboratory that has been under his direction since 1983. His publications have appeared in a wide range of academic and professional journals. In his recent book, Urban Transformation - Understanding City Design and Form by Island Press, Bosselmann reflects on design methods as sources of knowledge necessary for design practice. Together with colleagues, he is currently working on a Global Metropolitan Observatory and a new book on the Metropolitan Landscape.

His former book, Representation of Places: Reality and Realism in City Design, University of California Press, found much acclaim among scholars in fields as diverse as history, psychology, journalism, geography, film, architecture, and planning. Bosselmann has produced numerous educational films about urban design issues in San Francisco and New York City; memorable ones include Times Square, narrated by Jason Robards, and New York's Upper East Side, narrated by Paul Newman.

Bosselmann lectures frequently to audiences in Europe, Japan, China, Australia, and North America on his research in urban form and climate, traffic in neighborhoods, and on urban design representation. In 2006-07 he was awarded a one-year residency at the Politecnico Di Milano, in 2000 a six-month residency at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, Copenhagen, and in 1992 he held an endowed chair at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo. He currently holds an endowed chair at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China.

He is the recipient of numerous design awards, including awards from the AIA, ASLA, and ACIP for his work in San Francisco, an Urban Design Institute Award for his work in Oakland, California, recognition for the Seaton Airport Lands design competition in Ontario, Canada, two Progressive Architecture Awards for urban design research for work in San Francisco and on the Toronto Downtown Plans, an award from the American Planning Association, and an invited exhibition of his work at the Triennale in Milan, Italy.

Bosselmann teaches studios and seminars in architectural, environmental and urban design as well as design theory and research methods. Explore a summary of student research projects for Bosselmann's CY PLAN/LD ARCH C241 Research Methods in Environmental Design.

ARCH 201 Case Studies in Architectural Design

ARCH 209A Seminar in Architectural Theory

ENV DES 201 Urban Places Advanced Studio

CY PLAN 208 Plan Preparation Studio

CY PLAN 248 Advanced Studio: Urban Design Environmental Planning

CY PLAN/LD ARCH C241 Research Methods in Environmental Design

LD ARCH 235 Environmental Simulation and Public Communication

Urban Transformation – Understanding City Design and Form, Island Press, 2008

The Nature of Change, Territorio, Rome, 2007

Authenticity, Simulation and Entitlement, Urbanistica, Rome, 2005

Representation of Places, University of California Press, 1998

“C. Th. Sørensen, Landscape Architecture as Art,” Landscape Journal, 1998

“Livable Streets Revisited,” Macdonald, E. with Kronemeier, T., Journal of the American Planning Association, 1999

“Boulevard Livability Study,” with Elizabeth Macdonald, Places, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1997

“Transformation of a Landscape,” Places, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1996

“The Documentary Quality of Computer Simulations,” Spazio e Societa, Vol. 75, Milan, 1996

“Urban Form and Climate,” Journal of the American Planning Association, with Edward Arens, Klaus Dunkers, Robert Wright. Vol. 61, No. 2, 1994

“Wind, Sun and Temperature – Predicting the Thermal Comfort of People in Outdoor Spaces,” with Edward Arens, Building and Environment, Vol. 24, No. 4, 1989