April 3, 2000

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Attention: Leiane Cooke
3620 South 27th Street
Arlington, VA 22206

Dear Leiane:

Enclosed is a copy of the new book by Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and her colleagues, Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. I've also included the latest issue of Architectural Record which includes a number of terrific stories and case studies. The piece by Jim Russell, in particular, is timely and provocative. Russell will serve as a panelist with Plater-Zyberk at the convention seminar, "How the Sprawl Debate Affects Architects," on May 6.

I sent you the following via email before, but to re-cap:

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, FAIA, is a Miami-based architect and town planner who co-founded Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. in 1980 with her husband Andres Duany. Having co-founded the Congress for the New Urbanism, DPZ is considered one of the most influential leaders in the new urbanist movement. They're best known for retrofitting livable downtown's into existing suburbs and their designs of traditional towns, including Seaside, Florida, and The Kentlands, Maryland. Plater-Zyberk also serves as dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Miami.

According to Engineering News-Record, Plater-Zyberk's new book "lays out the underlying causes of the development of the subdivision, the strip mall, office parks, oversized streets, 'McMansions' and never-ending parking lots. Then it offers a 'how-to' to architects, engineers, planners, public officials, politicians and concerned citizens who want to help suburban Americans, overly dependent on their automobiles, reclaim a quality of life lost in the pursuit of the American dream."

The idea would be to have Plater-Zyberk do a guest spot on the show, either by herself or perhaps even with other "new urbanists" and expert. Russell, for instance, is moderating the "How the Sprawl Debate Affects Architects" seminar. He's an incredibly knowledgeable and engaging journalist for Architectural Record. Timing-wise, you could probably get some good b-roll on Saturday (your own Ray Suarez is serving on the "Future of the City" panel on that day), then do the interview/panel discussion the following Monday.

I'll give you a call soon, or feel free to buzz me at (202) 626-7467. Thanks!

Mike Janes
mjanes@aia.org

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.