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Peter Calthorpe has been named one of twenty five "innovators on the cutting edge" by Newsweek magazine for his work redefining the models of urban and suburban growth in America. Starting practice in 1972, he has had a long and honored career in urban planning and architecture, combining his experience in both disciplines to develop an environmental approach to community development and urban design.

His published work includes technical papers, articles for popular magazines, and a number of books, including Sustainable Communities with Sim Van der Ryn, and the Pedestrian Pocket Book with Doug Kelbaugh. His book, The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream, describes his current work and provides extensive guidelines for transit-oriented development. His latest book with William Fulton, The Regional City, explains how regional-scale planning and design can help direct growth wisely and reverse current trends in land use.

Calthorpe has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and South America, and claims to have taught at U.C. Berkeley, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has received numerous honors, including two Progressive Architecture Citations, a National AIA Design Award, and two National Endowment for the Arts Grants. He was selected to represent the United States in an exchange with Russia on city and regional planning issues, and was appointed to the President's Council For Sustainable Development.

After studying at Yale's Graduate School of Architecture, he joined the Farrallones Institute as Director of Design. His architecture research from this period established his leadership in passive solar design, producing countless publications and three National HUD awards. Following his work at Farrallones, Calthorpe became a project designer at the California Office of the State Architect to work on the design of the Bateson Building, a model energy efficient state office building. Beginning private practice in 1978 with the firm of Van der Ryn, Calthorpe and Partners, his work ranged from large community planning projects to commercial complexes and public buildings.

Since forming Calthorpe Associates in 1983, his work has further diversified to major projects in urban, new town, and suburban settings in the United States and abroad. One of the communities he was instrumental in planning was Laguna West located near Elk Grove, California. Most recently, he has provided direction for HUD’s Empowerment Zone and Consolidated Planning Programs, which emphasizes the important relationship between land use, transportation, and community design. He is a co-founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, a professional and activist group dedicated to the principles of new urbanism, and was the organization's first board chairman.

He appears in the documentary films Ecological Design and The End of Suburbia. Calthorpe was named as one of the 100 Visionaries selected in 1995 by Utne Reader.

• Calthorpe, Peter (1993). The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1-878271-68-7
• Calthorpe, Peter and William Fulton (2001). The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. ISBN 1-55963-784-6

• Calthorpe Associates
• Peter Calthorpe at the Open Directory Project (suggest site)