International Center for Sustainable
New Cities
College of Architecture
Illinois Institute of Technology
The College of Architecture at Illinois Institute
of Technology is pleased to announce the creation of its
new International Center for Sustainable New Cites. The center
will direct an academic focus toward a new and evolving field
of major international importance and build a curricular
mechanism that will train students in the many points of
its broad professional compass. We believe this center will
be the first such research entity devoted to this issue in
North America and—given the international reputation of the
university—we would like to see it become one of the
preeminent research centers in the world.
 The
founding premises of the new center are twofold. On the
one hand, the world is in the midst of dramatic physical
and sociological upheaval. Environmental concerns, limited
energy resources, population growth, and booming economic
development in areas formerly designated as "third
world" have profoundly altered the global perspective
and the way we view the future and present. With an estimated
1.25 million people moving from rural conditions to urban
centers each week, we are witnessing the largest single migration
in human history—with all of its concomitant benefits
and problems. At the same time, the practice of architecture
in recent years has likewise undergone a radical change.
Global practice, digital technologies, the scale of projects,
and environmental awareness have profoundly altered the
nature of design, often blurring the distinctions between
architecture, engineering, urban design, and landscape
architecture. In addition to the profession's traditional
issues, architects must now confront the implications of
a major energy, ecological, and housing crisis. The education
of architects must likewise respond.
Dual focus of the new Center
The dual initiatives of the new center are education
and research. Situated within the graduate program of the College
of Architecture, the center will offer coursework at both a
graduate and doctoral level. Planning at the urban scale demands
an especially ambitious approach that embodies not only the
artistry of physical design but also a score of other specializations,
among them landscape design, engineering and new technologies,
environmental management, public policy, sociology, economics,
and law. Whereas it is unrealistic to expect to train students
in each and every one of these disciplines, it is not unreasonable
to view the urban architect as a generalist, as someone conversant
with the multitude of variables that have to be taken into
account in the successful completion of such an extended task.
 The issue of research is likewise central to
the center's mission, particularly at a doctoral level. Within
the realm of theory, it is our primary intention to consider
critically a broad range of innovative strategies, and to
document the matrix of competing interests and concerns that
must be brought to bear on the problem. The new program of
landscape architecture within the college will assist in
this matter. Through visiting lecturers, adjunct faculty, and
regular symposia, we expect to engage the world's best minds
in our education and research. By means of alliances with
other schools at home and abroad, we will offer a course
of study and range of ideas that is significantly enriched
through first-hand experience and travel. Through publications,
we will make known the fruits of our research and engage
the political process of sustainable design and planning.
New Cities versus Existing Cities
As its name implies, the center will focus on the
planning of new sustainable cities. The problems here are
indubitable and profound in scope. China alone is said to
have over 100 new cities now being built or planned: many
conceived from sustainable principles but many more based
on conventional models of energy production and consumption.
India, whose population is expected to surpass China's by
the year 2050, is not far behind China in its planned economic
development and urban population demands. New Cities are
being designed or built in South Korea, the Arabian Peninsula,
and many other parts of the world. We believe the sustainable
design of these new urban centers is crucial—not just
to the quality of life they may afford their residents but
perhaps to the very survival of the planet.
It is, however, very important to stress that the vast majority
of skills that we hope to cultivate with respect to new cities
will also have a very direct application to our existing
cities. Here too we have experienced a veritable revolution
in our "Western" attitudes in recent times. Over
the last ten years, the European Union and its founding countries
have certainly taken the lead with their legislation and
remedial efforts, and, with the growing recognition of the
problem, these attitudes are now becoming part and parcel
of the larger developed world. Within the last few years
a palpable intensification of efforts can be detected in
the United States, and recent green initiatives, such as
those of California, may shortly become models for the country
as a whole. Chicago has for several years expressed the desire
to become a "Green City" and the new center will
work hand-in-hand with this ambition and engage in local
and national discussions.
 The Legacy of IIT and its Resources
Located in one of America's leading urban centers,
the College of Architecture and Illinois Institute of Technology
are particularly well situated to house this new entity. Not
only is the city itself expanding in its regional and global
reach, so too is the university witnessing a renaissance in
student attitudes and enrollment.
The College of Architecture has its very special
legacy. The college is largely a creation of the great German
modernist Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who arrived in Chicago
in 1938 with the charge of designing a new program for a
school. This modernist master of minimalism not only implemented
a new curriculum but he—together with his colleague
Ludwig Hilberseimer—established a very high standard
for architecture and planning that still infuses the expectations
of the institution. The College of Architecture is located
in Crown Hall, one of the great icons of twentieth-century
modernism, while the design of the campus itself is largely
due to the efforts of Mies and Hilberseimer. Hence the new
center is nothing less than a re-affirmation of this esteemed
tradition.
Like many of the technological universities across the country,
IIT is attempting to embrace the challenges of the present
and the future with renewed vigor and commitment. IIT's new
Energy and Sustainability Institute, centered within the
Engineering College, already has several major research initiates
underway, among them a design for the "House of the
Future." Several of the professional schools and departments
of the university are also expanding, and many have implemented
new coursework in the areas of urban management, energy,
and the environment. The theme of sustainability is presently
the single focus around which the university as a whole is
rallying.
Director:
Harry Francis Mallgrave, Ph.D.,
AIA Associate Professor College of Architecture
Illinois Institute of Technology
S. R. Crown Hall
3360 South State Street
Chicago, IL 60616
mallgrave@iit.edu
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