Magazine

Peter Bosselmann specializes in the representation and visualization of cities, but he’s also a prolific educator: At the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, Bosselmann is professor of urban design in architecture, city and regional planning, and landscape architecture, as well as head graduate adviser in the Master of Urban Design program. His most recent book, Urban Transformation: Understanding City Design and Form, was published by Island Press last fall.

How is technology central to urban planning and education these days?

The tools have changed greatly over the last 30 years. There was a filmmaker, John Dykstra, who worked on Space Odyssey and Star Wars, who worked with us on making our first simulation. That was in the early ’70s — we still used celluloid film. There have been many innovations since then. The students currently like Google SketchUp, but a few years from now we probably won’t remember what it is.