Vishaan Chakrabarti

Activist, Architect, Athlete, Brainstormer, Business leader, Change Agent, Concerned citizen, Designer, Educator/Teacher, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Explorer, Foodie, Global soul, Idea generator, Parent, Photographer, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Vishaan is an architect and author. He is the founder and creative director of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), a New York architecture studio. As the designer for the expansion of I.M. Pei’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Princeton’s Hobson College, Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Refinery, Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Yards, and a contemporary urban bazaar in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Chakrabarti is dedicated to building sustainability and human connection across our global urban communities. In addition to practice, Chakrabarti has actively advocated for more equitable and ecological cities in published New York Times Op Eds such as “A Future Without Cars,” “Penn Station Reborn,” and “America’s Urban Future.” His first book, “A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America” (Metropolis Books, 2013), argues that a more urban United States would result in a more prosperous, sustainable, joyous, and socially mobile nation that could serve as a global model—The Huffington Post named it one of the top ten urban policy books of 2013. Vishaan is writing a second book for Princeton University Press entitled “The Architecture of Urbanity: Designing Cities for Pluralism and Planet.” He is on leave from his professorship at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, where he served as Dean. Prior to founding PAU, Chakrabarti has been a principal in major global architecture firms, was a professor at Columbia University, and served as the Director of Planning for Manhattan under Mayor Michael Bloomberg after the tragic events of 9/11, during which he helped to plan the High Line and the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. Chakrabarti has been a guest on NPR, The Charlie Rose Show, MSNBC, NY1, WNYC, and has been profiled in the The New York Times and the Financial Times. He serves on several cultural and civic boards in New York City, where he works and lives with his family.

Design. Cities. Pluralism and Planet. Photography. Food. Rare architecture books.

Cities are the last and best hope for humanity.

is under construction.

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