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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Aerial photographer touches down for Urban Forum

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The organizers at Urban Forum have sent us notice of their next event:

Wednesday, February 16th 2011

7:00 pm Ottawa City Hall Champlain Room

“In Search of Successful Urbanism”

Alex S. MacLean, international award-winning photographer, author, and pilot, will provide a one-of-a-kind vantage point in the search for successful urbanism through his stunning photography.

Alex has flown his plane over much of the United States documenting the landscape.  Trained as an architect at Harvard, he has portrayed the history and evolution of land and built form from vast agricultural patterns to city grids, recording changes brought about by human intervention and natural processes.  His powerful, descriptive images provide clues to understanding the relationship between the natural and constructed environments.

You can see the kind of work MacLean does here.

In the video above MacLean discusses his latest book “Over” where he makes the case that America has reached a tipping point; “we’re coming to a major change in the way we use land and resources”.

Some of the most arresting images MacLean captures are of the effect of tract housing developments on the landscape; we can’t help but think how useful it might be for MacLean to fly over Beaver Pond and the South March Highlands while he is town.

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One comment

  1. It certainly would be of use at this point.

    Wishing that I could attend, and recommending that anyone who can go does so!