Alexander Garvin, urban planner who helped redesign WTC site, dies

Alexander Garvin, an architect, writer and teacher who was at the heart of urban planning efforts in New York and other cities and helped guide the rebuilding of the former World Trade Center site after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, died Dec. 17 at his home in Manhattan. He was 80.

The cause was an undetermined progressive illness that affected multiple systems, said his brother and only survivor, George Garvin.

Garvin was a lifelong New Yorker who dedicated himself to understanding what makes cities thrive or stagnate. For more than 50 years, he taught a popular course at Yale University, his alma mater, called “Introduction to the Study of the City.”

In his teaching and in several books, Garvin examined the intertwined roles of government officials, designers, real estate developers, bankers, shopkeepers and ordinary residents in creating urban spaces and vibrant communities. His influential 1996 book, “The American City: What Works, What Doesn’t,” which was published in several editions, illustrated his ideas with examples of design successes and failures from numerous cities. In that book, he offered a simple, pragmatic definition of successful urban planning: “public action that generates a desirable, widespread, and sustained private market reaction.”

He differed with some architects in his belief that the style or size of a building was of little importance.

“I don’t care whether something is modernist or neo-traditional,” he told the Yale Alumni Magazine in 2001. “The question is, does it work? Does it make life better?”

Deeply influenced by Jane Jacobs’s groundbreaking 1961 study of urban neighborhoods, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” Garvin believed redevelopment projects should not be imposed from above by all-powerful public officials or architects. Instead, they should develop from the ground up, reflecting the needs of local residents, office workers, commuters and business owners.

“The streets, squares, parks, infrastructure and public buildings make up the fundamental element in any community – the framework around which everything else grows,” Garvin told the New York Times in 2011.

He also maintained that two elements were essential to any successful urban space: pedestrians and parks. A city found its pulse from human encounters on the street and from soul-refreshing green spaces, trees and sunlight. Whenever he was asked to name his favorite building in New York, Garvin always responded: “Central Park.”

Few people understood urban planning and design from as many vantage points as Garvin. In addition to being an architect, he served for many years on the New York City Planning Commission and was a deputy commissioner of housing in the city. He was also a property manager, real estate developer and restoration specialist.

In 1996, Garvin was asked by Dan Doctoroff, who later became a deputy mayor, whether he could develop a plan for New York City to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

“Sure,” Garvin replied. “How would we do it?” Doctoroff asked.

“I haven’t a clue in the world,” Garvin said.

Despite having little interest in athletics – “The sport I follow now is called opera,” he said. “And the best athletes are the ones who can hit high C.” – Garvin traveled to other Olympic sites, toured numerous venues in all five boroughs of New York and viewed the city from a helicopter. He and several assistants came up with a comprehensive plan for the games, dubbed “NYC2012,” including stadiums, housing for thousands of athletes and an ambitious transportation network built around river ferries and rail.

In the end, London won the bid for the 2012 Olym