The Art of Shaping the Metropolis

Pedro Ortiz is an experienced and thoughtful leader who knows how to bring a complex vision to life -- even when it takes years and faces many short and long term political agendas. He is the world's top expert on planning metropolitan areas for the future -- did it for Madrid when he was Deputy Mayor, and is working with government and civic groups around the world to help them be smart about their growth and development.I am not a metropolitan planner, but I do deal with large system, complex change. In my role I especially appreciate Mr. Ortiz' sensitivity to the many nuances of social change. He sees it for the complex, multi-agenda process it is and provides practical ways to think about and approach it that balance long term ethical concerns with shorter term and more local stakeholder needs and priorities. Thus, in addition to being for metropolitan planners and those who work with them, I think this book is for a broader audience of change leaders: the politicians, executives and consultants who face big strategic challenges and want to position their agendas for longer term success.Of course, anyone who is involved in any kind of civic/city/metropolitan planning should have this book sitting on his/her desk with a notebook handy. It elevates the planning process to a level that fits the emerging complexity of our expanding global population. Drawing on the insights and recommendations of this book, we can ensure that our metropolitan areas of the future will support a high quality of life everywhere on the planet.

With more than half of the world's population now living in cities, and the percentage still expanding rapidly, one wonders how cities can accommodate the influx without becoming paralyzed hodge-podges. Ortiz, who was Deputy Mayor of Madrid and led its urban planning, manages to lay out a rational notion of the planning that must (and can feasibly) occur to prevent sprawling paralysis. His worldwide knowledge, allowing the use of many and diverse examples, would be hard to duplicate.

Great book. I predict this will become a city-planning classic.

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There are 3 ways of dealing with Metropolitan growth:1) Do nothing. ...and let the future be a mess.2) The Archipelago theory: respond in a disjointed incrementalist empirical way.3) The Metro-Matrix theory: The one presented in this book, that offers a comprehensive approach based in rational analysis, neo-platonicism and historical evolution of urbanism.Be ahead of your fellow professionals and scholars.