One of the concepts that modern architectural creation must contend with is beauty. Buildings with projections, holograms, or ones that are entirely autonomous, as science fiction has so often shown, look more and more far from reality in a situation of ongoing uncertainty. Instead of idealizing the new for the sake of the new, the desire for stronger identification with the built environment has increased in recent years. Since looking at the past has provided alternative viewpoints, perhaps we can conceive of a new futuristic style within this context.

Tigran Haas, MArch, MSc., Ph.D., is the tenured associate professor of urban design and planning, the former director of the International Centre for the Future of Places (CFP) and the former director of the Civitas Athenaeum Laboratory (CAL) at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment at KTH. Mr. Haas holds advanced degrees in architecture, urban planning and design, environmental science, and regional planning, which gives him a special point of view when it comes to understanding macro, meso, and micro levels of complexity and problems in cities. So aside from being a tenured associate professor of urban planning and urban design, Current Lab Director of Halcyon Athenaeum Laboratory (HAL), the former director of Civitas Athenaeum Laboratory (CAL), Former Director of the Centre for the Future of Places (CFP) and the Former Director of the Graduate Program in Urbanism (MUSE) as well as the Former Co-Director and Founder of the first Scandinavian Graduate program in Urban Planning and Design (UPD), all at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment at KTH, he has done, as mentioned Post-Doc Fellowships at MIT, Boston, UC Berkeley and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Currently I am a guest research scholar at the prestigious centre LCAU – The MIT Norman B. Leventhal Centre for Advanced Urbanism.

In addition to writing more than 125 scholarly works, Mr. Haas has contributed to 15 books, 3 research anthologies, 50 conference papers, and organized over 350 events, seminars, workshops, lectures and conferences. He has also taught in international educational programs in urban planning, urban design, real estate development, environmental science, and project and strategic management. Over 125 masters’ students and over 15 PhD students have been under his supervision. Last but not least, perhaps his most endearing accomplishment was teaching project and strategic management for more than 8 years at KTH (Stockholm) and ZSEM (Zagreb), where he gained the necessary skills for managing centers, labs, and projects. He also learned how to lead teams and individuals as well as strategically assess the work and business environment. Moreover, Mr. Haas is working on five new books for 2022–2025 (Atheneum Scholars Press, a publishing company he has started, Rowman & Littlefield, Routledge, Rizzoli, Gondolier, and Sustasis Press, as well as Edward Elgar).

The Dream of Becoming an Architect

After graduating from high school, Mr. Haas’ plans to study architecture and pursue a career in the field materialized. His interests later expanded to include urban planning, urban design, and urbanism, as the complexity of cities and the spaces between them attracted him like no other single structure had before. He completed his undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees in environmental science and regional planning & development in the United States, the Former Yugoslavia (BiH and Croatia), and Sweden. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that he was lured to academics by sheer accident or by some peculiar combination of circumstances. He shares, “My father was a university professor of theoretical physics and philosophy of science and used to spend time as a guest professor and scholar in the USA at prestigious places like Boston University, Harvard University, McGill in Montreal, and UPenn in Philly while, my mother was a laboratory researcher, a chemist, and a biotechnology person that worked at labs in MIT Cambridge and FDA Washington DC amongst other places.” This might have played a role, but it was Mr. Haas’ own path in some ways and the lure of academia, especially the work with students and exciting exploration of gaps between subjects and the complexities of cities, that really got him hooked. He says, “Those that cannot make it in the real world end up teaching, or those riding tigers cannot dismount.”

The tenure track position at KTH, where Mr. Haas is currently an Associate Professor in urban planning and urban design, is great, as is his research scholar position at the most prestigious and #1 university in the world, MIT in Cambridge/Boston. He says, “There is a small fact that I am very proud of, that of being an incremental and steward to four honorary doctors at KTH, Richard Florida, Saskia Sassen, Edward Glaeser, and Manuel Castells, one of the greatest thinkers on cities and finest urban minds of today.”

The MIT of the North

KTH the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, founded in 1827, has grown into one of the top technical institutions in Europe and a significant hub for knowledge growth. KTH, Sweden’s biggest institution for technical education and research, brings together teachers, staff, and students from all over the world. Climate change, the future energy supply, urbanization, and the quality of life for a rapidly aging and expanding population are some of the greatest issues facing mankind. KTH is working with industry and society to find sustainable solutions to these problems. Science, all areas of technology, architecture, industrial economics, social planning, history, and philosophy are all covered by KTH’s research and instruction. The innovative climate promotes versatile solutions, and the institute’s education creates a new generation of engineers, architects, and teachers.

According to Mr. Haas, the mature narrative originated at CAL LAB and continued at the Centre for the Future of Places, which was founded to advance sustainable urban development by changing the focus of urban discourse from objects to places in order to advance healthy and livable cities, within the fields of urban planning and urban design. In order to create a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous society, it envisioned a networked community of leaders actively collaborating across sectors, frontiers, and disciplines. The Center’s mission was to define, categorize, and establish the public space as a separate academic study topic by using a comprehensive methodology. This means that the center acted and systematically linked together knowledge from all disciplines related to the field of public space, such as urban planning, urban design, environmental psychology, urban sociology, architecture, urban economics, human geography, and others. The focus on public space served as a cross-disciplinary framework to merge the knowledge from the different disciplinary silos; thus, creating links between the experts within them, to create a holistic understanding of the city that serves as the basis for practical and effective action, which will require extensive international cooperation.

The current HAL Lab, which combines the finest elements of CAL and CFP, is still looking at the difficulties that regions, metropolitan areas, towns, and neighborhoods confront in creating more inclusive, just, sustainable, resilient, and sustainable cities. The study, which takes the form of publications, exhibits, events, online gatherings, conferences, seminars, talks, and other forms of communication, focuses on the pressing issue of urbanization, particularly the public domain and its function as a crucial component of the urban framework. More generally, the Center, which served as a clearinghouse for new ideas, is still active in the new HAL LAB and continues to research issues related to current and potential urban conditions, development, planning, design, and the processes of placemaking in cities. Mr. Haas asserts, “We take as our principal professional concern the evolving role of urban planning and design within broader interdisciplinary fields, and their impacts upon human environments and social life.”

An additional feature is that the new LAB will focus very much on developing new theories and new methodologies for understanding the complexities of ever-changing transformations in the city, especially now during the “New REAL not the NEW Normal,” as many say, after COVID-19.

5Ps of the Well Management

Adhering to the 5Ps (Passion, Perseverance, Professionalism, Persuasion, and Playfulness) which is a motto in Mr. Haas’ professional life. There are many other elements to recommend, but in his opinion one of the key elements are also: risk taking, courage, and persistence, and belief in one’s ideas and utilization of talent. Mr. Haas wholeheartedly agrees with the principle to never stop or give up, even in the darkest hours, that fortitude to dare to see & act when others do not is the mother of all things. Another problem is the people and groups you work with. It’s critical to choose people who are brilliant, dedicated, intelligent, and honest, and who want the success of their teams to exceed their own. All of this unearths and unleashes a tremendous amount of energy and ideas for a culture that is performance-driven and collaborative. Respect and reward are essential, in addition to positive attitude, clear concentration, a simple and clear approach, and multitasking.

Mr. Haas chooses the key 15 principles for the present and next gen of leaders, i.e., what they should and need to have then it would be the following ones:

1. Facilitate effective communication whenever possible and try to keep it flowing, transparent and consistent
2. To manage expectations with clients and stakeholders and to finetune and control the process and the language of projects and programs
3. Always listen first but act as soon as possible with the best possible information at the given time; do not waste time and use your interpersonal skills to the fullest
4. Filter irrelevant or trivial information as well as bad advice and bad people
5. Crucial to set clear action items and goals and objectives in form of Critical Success Factors and Key performance Indicators – KPI and CSF
6. Remember the religion of project management always: time, cost and quality – where the success will rarely be the optimal of all three but rather a sustainable balance of those
7. Communicate and be transparent always and give much more than is needed and expected
8. Empowering others to fix issues themselves and identify each team member’s strengths and weaknesses and build your relationship with the team for the long haul
9. Managers should risks and gain rewards i.e. the greater the risk the higher the reward.
10. Remove obstacles and other distractions, such as psychopathic persons in your environment as well as sort out problems early and have in place both emergency and contingency plans
11. On a personal note and scale, learn to be humble, listen to advice and others, be self-aware and always, always accept critical and sound criticism
12. Be a good artist, a great one: pull and steal ideas from everyone involved and give due credit and pay close attention to every detail
13. Promote a great community culture, a brand, a name, honor and pride with established shared beliefs
14. Form positive relationships with partners and stakeholders as well as reach out to your networks whenever possible and whenever needed, and finally
15. Believe in yourself, share your knowledge, experience, ideas and trials & tribulations with others.

The best Way to Understand Urban Designing

Andres Duany and Rem Koolhaas’ writings and studies are, in Mr. Haas’ opinion, the finest resources for understanding modern architecture and urbanism as well as urban development and urbanization. The Death and Life of Great American Cities from 1961, Rem Koolhaas’ Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan from 1978, and Venturi, Scott, and Brown’s Learning from Las Vegas from 1972 are the three great architectural and urbanism manifestos that Mr. Haas likes. Mr. Haas also adds three of his own: Christian Norberg Schulz’s Genius Loci: Toward a Phenomenology of Architecture from 1979, Recombinant Urbanism: Conceptual Modeling in Architecture, Urban Design and City Theory by David Grahame Shane from 2005 and Richard Florida, The Rise of The Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life from 2010. Mr. Haas asserts, “All these 6 books were massively inspiring for me for a multitude of reasons.”  

The Advancements in the Sector in Upcoming Future

When the COVID 19 epidemic hit and changed everything, the globe was at a crucial moment in history. Despite this, the years leading up to and following 2020 were and will be crucial for a real shift for cities, towns, neighborhoods, and communities. Local governments and governance had to respond rapidly to safeguard people’s lives while also looking for the best ways to deal with the long-term impacts of COVID-19. The pandemic had a profound impact on urban living, way of life, daily routines, and administration of public domains. Mr. Haas references his two colleagues and friends, the leading world urbanist Richard Florida and leading urban economist Edward Glaeser point out, at the nexus of all the converging crises and urban challenges, one fundamental thing stands out: the importance of making cities more livable, connected, affordable, open and opportune for all, as well as just: in other words more humane while nurturing a strong sense of community and connection in a new reality, with massive work, space, technological, AI and mobility changes coming.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company in the Deloitte insights did an insightfull study of Urban future with a purpose in 2021 by Miguel Eiras Antunes Jean Gil Barroca Daniela Guerreiro Oliveira. They came up with the 12 trends that are not equally applicable or desirable for all cities. They cover most of the domains of a city and touch on the main changes emerging from the pandemic. However, they do not suggest that all these trends form a recipe for every city – after all, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to city development. And these are the 12 trends they have identified with which I fully agree:

GREEN PLANNING OF PUBLIC SPACES: Cities are being planned and designed for people, with ‘green’ streets, new corridors and public spaces as centres of social life.

SMART HEALTH COMMUNITIES: Cities develop health care ecosystems that are focused not only on diagnosing and treating sickness, but also on supporting well-being through early intervention and prevention, while leveraging digital technologies.

15-MINUTE CITY: Cities are being designed in a way that amenities and most services are within a 15-minute walking or cycling distance, creating a new neighbourhood approach.

MOBILITY: INTELLIGENT, SUSTAINABLE AND AS-A-SERVICE: Cities work towards offering digital, clean, intelligent, autonomous and intermodal mobility, with more walking and cycling spaces, where transport is commonly provided as a service.

INCLUSIVE SERVICES AND PLANNING: Cities evolve to have inclusive services and approaches, fighting inequalities by providing access to housing and infrastructure, equal rights and participation, as well as jobs and opportunities.

DIGITAL INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM: Cities attract talent, enable creativity and encourage disruptive thinking, developing themselves through an innovation model approach and a combination of physical and digital elements.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND PRODUCING LOCALLY: Cities adopt circular models based on a healthy circulation of resources, and on principles of sharing, reusing and restoration, with an emphasis on limiting municipal waste volumes and on producing locally – for instance, by urban farming.

SMART AND SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS AND INFRASTRUCTURE: Cities aim to have regenerated buildings; they leverage data to optimise energy consumption and the use and management of resources in buildings and utilities: waste, water and energy.

MASS PARTICIPATION: Cities evolve to be human-centred and designed by and for their citizens, promoting mass participation by the ecosystem in a collaborative process and following open government policies.

CITY OPERATIONS THROUGH AI: Cities adopt automated processes and operations (orchestrated by a city platform) and are following data-driven planning approaches.

CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY AWARENESS: Cities strive to promote awareness of the importance of data privacy and preparedness for the impact of cyberattacks since data will be an important city commodity.

SURVEILLANCE AND PREDICTIVE POLICING THROUGH AI: Cities are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure safety and security for their citizens while safeguarding the privacy and fundamental human rights.” (2021 Deloitte University EMEA CVBA. Responsible publisher: Deloitte University EMEA CVBA)

Website: www.kth.se