Klaus Philipsen, Ren Southard, and Tim Keane – What Can We Learn from Our Historically Linked City

Klaus Philipsen

Klaus offers a sharp look at how Baltimore’s historical constraints forced creative urbanism compared to Frederick’s rapid geographic expansion. He zooms out to examine how cities grow:

• The Sprawl Contrast: He critiques how Frederick’s annexations and suburban growth patterns jump around with disconnected street networks concentric corridors that could be anywhere in America.
• The Value of Limits: He contrasts this with Boulder, Colorado’s deliberate green belt strategy and Baltimore’s forced density, arguing that design must be authentically human-scale, walkable, and deeply tied to natural amenities rather than cheap expansion.​

For a taste of the presentation view 20:07 – 22:07 minutes.

Ren Southard

​Ren Southard’s presentation is about how design review and the public realm contributes to the city.

• The Equity Focus: How public and private developments signal a city’s values and priorities, ensuring that growth respects neighborhood scale rather than drowning out community character.
• Objective Human Scale: Moving away from subjective arguments over personal taste and grounding design review in the objective, measurable ways people experience space—such as comfortable walking distances and how the human eye recognizes figures in the built environment.

For a taste of the presentation view 2:26:07–2:22:07 minutes.

Tim Keane

This is about his philosophy of urban form, land use, and the necessity of designing cities around human scale and traditional patterns rather than auto-centric suburban models. Keane zeroes in on why municipal planning must actively prioritize great public spaces and walkable neighborhoods over conventional, car-dominated zoning.

For a taste of the presentation view 45:23 – 48:55 minutes. Full video link: https://youtu.be/pUO2RvjEHkk?si=3X-1uhBM9M6ThIyt

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