18 June Williamson, Retrofitting suburbia / Tucson
A conversation with June Williamson about retrofitting suburbia, designing suburban futures, and urban design strategies.
Join Eduardo Guerrero, urban designer based in Tucson, as he talks with urban idealists and designers about their work and stories. Listen in as he engages these relevant thinkers in reflections and conversations about the environment and culture.
18 June Williamson, Retrofitting suburbia / Tucson
Tucson soundscapes by June Williamson and Eduardo Guerrero.
Biography:
June Williamson is professor of architecture at The City College of New York's Spitzer School of Architecture. She has consulted, taught and practiced architecture and urban design in Boston, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Los Angeles and, currently, New York City. In addition to the book’s co-authored with Ellen Dunham Jones, she wrote "Designing Suburban Futures: New Models from Build a Better Burb," documenting an urban design ideas competition for Long Island.
Source: https://retrofittingsuburbia.com/
Education:
M.U.P., Urban Design, The City College of New York, CUNY, 2005.
M.Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994.
B.A., Yale University, 1989.
Workplace: The City College of New York.
Current city: New York.
Web:
https://retrofittingsuburbia.com/
https://ssa.ccny.cuny.edu/people/june-williamson/
Websites of interest:
National Press Foundation. June Williamson on the Suburbs After COVID
https://youtu.be/51AS8T-qs_c?si=LzAuBuJIABAcNKXu
The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York
https://ssa.ccny.cuny.edu/people/june-williamson/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/williamson_june/
Publications:
Books:
_Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges. With Ellen Dunham-Jones (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2021).
_Designing Suburban Futures: New Models from Build a Better Burb (Island Press, 2013).
_Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. With Ellen Dunham-Jones (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2008, updated edition 2011).
Articles and Book Chapters:
_“Incremental Metropolitanism: An Assessment of Retrofitting Suburbia’s Endgame,” Peripheral Centralities: Instances of Anticipatory Urbanism, Nicholas A. Phelps, Roger Keil, and Paul J. Maginn, eds. (Berlin: JOVIS Verlag. (2025).
_“Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges.” With Ellen Dunham-jones; In The New Australian City: The Suburban Evolution, Guy Gibson and Ross Elliott, eds. (Redland Bay: Connor Court Publishing, 2024).
_“What Colors are the Crabgrass?” Urban Omnibus, October 31, 2024. https://urbanomnibus.net/2024/10/what-colors-are-the-crabgrass/
_“Five Myths About the Suburbs,” Washington Post, October 2, 2020.
_“Urban Design Tactics for Suburban Retrofitting” in Emily Talen, ed., Retrofitting Sprawl: Addressing Seventy Years of Failed Urban Form (University of Georgia Press, 2015).
_“Protest on the Astroturf at Downtown Silver Spring: July 4, 2007” in Christopher Niedt, ed., Social Justice in Diverse Suburbs: History, Politics, and Prospects (Temple University Press, 2013).
_Organizer, ParkingPLUS Design Challenge (2013-14) and Build a Better Burb Ideas Competition (2010).
Buy the books here:
Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, Updated Edition
Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges
Key words:
Suburbia, retrofitting suburbia, urban design, landscape architecture, architecture, planning, designing suburban futures, urban design strategies, New York, Tucson.
Episode production:
Soundscapes by June Williamson and Eduardo Guerrero.
Theme music by Sebastian Carreras ONDO, uno. Used with permission.
Art direction by estudiocinco.cl
Edition by sombraurbana.com
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January ‘25