This contemporary portrait of New York City, illustrated by the recent work of KPF, features a collection of essays by leading urbanists and commentators and a series of speculations on the future of the city from KPF Urban.
KPF is pleased to announce the publication of Connective Urbanism – New York, a new book that examines architecture that actively responds to context and, in so doing, improves the urban condition—connecting to the past, enhancing functionality today, and enabling a better future. From One Vanderbilt Avenue to the NYCHA Red Hook Houses, the projects included in this volume define KPF’s philosophy, expertise, and practice of connective urbanism.
“This book reflects on projects that our firm has designed in our hometown over the past 25 years,” said James von Klemperer, FAIA RIBA, KPF President. “We believe they embody a common thread: connecting buildings to important aspects of the urban realm beyond their boundaries, with the aim of improving our lives. KPF’s founders, Gene Kohn, Bill Pedersen, and Shelley Fox established the firm in 1976 with the belief that architecture is more powerful when it opens itself up to the urban context, producing buildings that actively embrace their surroundings. The projects range in scale from a small apartment building to a towering skyscraper and host a variety of functions, including offices, apartments, laboratories, and public parks.”
Featured projects include: One Vanderbilt Avenue, which has contributed to the revitalization of East Midtown and significantly improved the commuter experience; 500 West 21st Street, which reinforces the connective thread of the High Line, expanding its greenery with embedded gardens and referencing the industrial language of the neighborhood; and the recovery work at the New York City Housing Authority Red Hook Houses, where KPF saw the opportunity to humanize an impersonal urban plan while building resilience after Hurricane Sandy.
The volume includes a selection of essays, including a series of four “What if…” speculations on solutions to the challenges facing New York City. Intentionally diagrammatic, these scenarios proposed by KPF Urban serve as provocations—not concrete proposals—sparking considerations of city-scale transformations. At their core, the studies reveal the visible and invisible connections between large-scale systems.
“The essays outline the philosophy behind our practice at KPF and speculate on potential solutions to challenges faced by New York—and cities around the world,” said von Klemperer. “We have also included essays from external contributors that examine New York’s origins, the growth of the polycentric city since 2000, and public housing in New York.”
Essays:
- Connective Urbanism – James von Klemperer, FAIA RIBA
- New York’s Roots and America’s Future – Russell Shorto
- Polycentric New York: Two Decades after the Millennium – Lynne B. Sagalyn and Carol Willis
- Only Connect: Red Hook Houses and the Making of Modern New York – James Sanders, FAIA
- What if… Urban Speculations: Four Scenarios for Connected Systems – KPF Urban: Bruce Fisher, AIA; Carlos Cerezo Davila, PhD; Luc Wilson, et al.
Note to Editors:
Contributors:
Lynne B. Sagalyn is widely known for her research on city building and is the former Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor Emerita of Real Estate at Columbia Business School. Her writing credits include Times Square Remade: The Dynamics of Urban Change (MIT Press, 2023), Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money, and the Rebuilding of Lower Manhattan (Oxford University Press, 2016), and Times Square Roulette: Remaking the City Icon (MIT Press, 2001).
James Sanders, FAIA is an architect, author, and filmmaker, whose work has garnered him a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Emmy Award. With Ric Burns, Sanders wrote and produced the award-winning eight-part PBS series, New York: A Documentary Film, and its bestselling companion volume, New York: An Illustrated History (Knopf, 1999). His writing credits include Celluloid Skyline (Knopf, 2001) and Scenes from the City (Rizzoli, 2014), produced in association with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, and essays and articles in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, and Vanity Fair. James Sanders Studio, his New York-based design and research firm, has developed architecture, urban design, exhibition, and film projects for a variety of corporate, cultural and civic groups.
Russell Shorto is the author of eight books of narrative history, including the international bestseller The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America (Vintage, 2005) and Taking Manhattan: The extraordinary events that created New York and shaped America (Swift Press, 2025). He is the director of the New Amsterdam Project at the New York Historical Society and Senior Scholar at the New Netherland Institute. In 2009, Russell was awarded a knighthood from the Dutch government for his work in increasing historical understanding between the Netherlands and the United States.
Carol Willis is the founder, director, and curator of The Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park City, New York. She is an architectural and urban historian, specializing in the history of American city building and Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture at Columbia University. Her writing credits include Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago (Princeton Architectural Press, 1995), and she is a frequent contributor to publications and documentaries.
