Bruno Carvalho is a Harvard professor and author of The Invention of the Future: A History of Cities in the Modern World. The book explores the evolution of urban planning, the impact of transportation on city development, and the interplay between planners and the organic growth of cities. On this episode of Unfrozen, we question the reliability of historical narratives, the role of technology in shaping urban futures, and the challenges of modern urbanism.

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Intro/Outro: “In the Future,” by Sparks

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Discussed:

Urban Plans, Cities & Experiments

• Lisbon earthquake, 1755
• Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 (NYC Grid)
• Brasília
• Arcosanti (Paolo Soleri)
• Riverside, Illinois (Olmsted & Vaux)
• New York Parkway System
• Baldwinville, Massachusetts
• NEOM (Saudi Arabia)
• Lagos (Nigeria)
• Jakarta (Indonesia)
   

Key Figures in Architecture & Planning

• Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal
• Baron Georges-Eugene Hausmann
• Ebenezer Howard
• Carlos Moreno
• Cesar Marchetti
• Lúcio Costa
• Oscar Niemeyer
• Juscelino Kubitschek
• Paolo Soleri
• Paul Romer (Economist; Charter Cities)
• Frederick Law Olmsted
• Peter Cook (Archigram)
  (en.wikipedia.org in Bing)
• Jan Gehl
• Andrés Duany (New Urbanism)
• Clarke & Rapuano (via Robert Moses)

Infrastructure, Policy & Governance

• Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956
   

Political Economy, Land & State Power

• Henry George
• Seeing Like a State (James C. Scott)
• The Modernist City (James Holston)
• The Land Trap (Mike Bird)