Urban Theorist and Educator Colin Rowe Celebrated in Rome

On a Thursday evening in mid-April, a capacity crowd gathered at Cornell in Rome’s Palazzo Santacroce to celebrate the teaching career and professional contributions of renowned urban theorist, designer, and scholar Colin Rowe.

The event honored both Rowe’s deep impact on the field at large and his career at Cornell (1962–90), where he founded and served as director of the Urban Design Studio and was a strong advocate for the Cornell in Rome program from the outset. In recognition of this, three featured speakers — Olgu Çalişkan, Adolf Sotoca, Galina Tachieva — offered remarks on Colin Rowe’s urban design theories as they have intersected with their own work in the field. Through discussion linking collage to computational design, bridging the historical understanding of cities with the contemporary complexity of the metropolis, and exploring the potential of suburban transformation in the United States, the scope of Rowe’s ongoing influence was clear.

In complement, the night also highlighted the release last fall of The Urban Design Legacy of Colin Rowe, coedited by Steven W. Hurtt and James T. Tice, a beautifully designed and strikingly substantial volume (684 pages and more than 6.5 pounds!) that reflects the depth of Rowe’s ideas and influence through essays contributed by former students, colleagues, and distinguished urbanists.

As Tice noted during his introductory remarks, “This evening may be thought of as the beginning of a renewed interest and discovery, a kind of Artemis launch to the far side of the urban design moon dedicated to the city, as understood by Colin, as the quintessential expression of civilization, civic responsibility, and democratic ideals.”