Jonathan F.P. Rose

One of the most creative and ethical real estate developers on earth, Jonathan is an urban visionary and pioneer of sustainable, mixed-income housing where his mission is to build ‘communities of opportunity.’ Jason came across Jonathan’s work in 2004 when doing research for a development project in Brooklyn and it changed his entire outlook on the possibilities of how development can be a force for good. Jason wrote Jonathan a letter, the two had coffee, and he has been a friend, mentor and inspiration ever since. If you want to understand how to change the world through city making, read Jonathan’s book The Well-Tempered City.

Learn more about Jonathan’s work here.

Jane JAcobs

An accomplished journalist, author and activist, Jane’s life work left an indelible imprint on the fields of urban studies, sociology and economics. Her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, forever changed the way we think about cities and our relationship to the urban environment. Her triumph in saving lower Manhattan from the clutches of Robert Moses is now a immortalised in urban lore. In a patriarchal age of urbanism riddled with power-brokers, developers, architectures and planners all focusing on the ‘hardware’ of cities (infrastructure and buildings) Jane taught us to see the city through its ‘software’ (street life and social networks) which etched in our minds the notion that while streets, sidewalks and buildings together form the outdoor rooms that shape our urban experiences, great places must be created by and for the people they serve.

A frequent patron of the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village NY, Jason will never forget the evening he spent there with fellow urbanists to celebrate her life when the news of her passing was received. Down the street on the stoop of her former home was a pile of flowers 6 ft. high. Her work will influence generations of city makers to come.

 Learn more about Jane’s work here.

Christopher Alexander

A practicing architect, builder, and Emeritus Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, Chris’s work has and will continue to have a significant impact on the evolution of architectural and urban design theory and practice. Best known for his seminal books A Pattern Language and The Nature of Order, Volumes I-IV, Chris goes deeper than anyone else we have learned from. He taught us to feel the built environment and appreciate the ‘phenomenon of life.’ We think about the application of his ideas and concepts on a daily basis on all of our projects. Indeed, once you dive into his work…it’s hard not to see the patterns.

Jason met Chris and his incredible partner Maggie at a conference in 2005 and subsequently they introduced him to Stuart Cowan. Jason and Stuart had the great pleasure of visiting with Chris and Maggie in 2008 at their home in West Sussex, England, an experience he will be forever grateful for. Our advice: start with Notes on the Synthesis of Form and read everything thereafter, then read it again, then find Chris’s students to discuss his work and reference his work for the rest of your life.

Learn more about Chris and his work here and here.

Donella Meadows

One of the most influential environmental thinkers of the twentieth century, Dr. Donella H. “Dana” Meadows was a pioneering environmental scientist, teacher and writer. As the lead author of the 1972 Club of Rome report Limits to Growth, she and her colleagues marked a line in the sand by scientifically validating the concept of ecological overshoot. This prescient work demonstrated that human economic  activity and population growth where leading to over-consumption of our planet’s finite resources. Since the time of its publication humanity’s ecological footprint has only grown. As of 2018, the global ecological footprint of humanity was 1.7 planets worth of resources. Obviously we only have one earth. This is why Urban Apostles teaches and cultivates the practice of regenerative development. Our aim is to create ecological dividends through our work to eliminate the ecological debt we have accrued since the Limits to Growth was first published and build cities and communities that operate within the limits of our one planet. 

Dana also evolved the field of systems thinking. Her seminal works, Thinking in Systems: A Primer and Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System are must reads for anyone working on planetary change. Indeed, for the past decade we have been teaching and lecturing in universities across North America and Australia, these have been required readings. 

Learn more about Dana’s work here.

Henry george

Henry George was an American political economist and journalist most famous for his writings and advocacy work on wealth inequality. His writings sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era and gave rise to a new economic philosophy known as Georgism. His fundamental belief was that people should own the value they produce themselves, but that the economic value derived from land (including natural resources) should belong equally to all members of society as land is a common and finite resource.

His most famous work, Progress and Poverty, investigates the paradox of increasing inequality and poverty amid economic and technological progress, the volatile nature of industrialized economies, and the use of land value tax and other anti-monopoly reforms as a remedy for these and other social problems. Despite being written in 1879, his ideas are as relevant for us today as they were during his lifetime and his work has provided the basis for much 21st Century new economic thinking.

Jason studied at the Henry George School of Social Science in New York City from 2004-2006 which shifted his understanding of the causes of social inequality and how the commodification and control of land is at the very root of the social and ecological crises we face today. This is why Urban Apostles provides advisory services on Community Wealth Building models for local government and is leading policy work in Australia and New Zealand for Community Land Trusts to support more equitable and inclusive economies for our cities.

 Learn more about Henry George’s work here.

Rachel Carson

With the penning of her 1962 book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson changed the course of history by catalyzing the global environmental movement. A marine biologist by training and renowned nature writer, Carson’s meticulous research exposed the hazards of chemical pesticides on humans and other biota and eloquently questioned humanity's faith in technological progress. When the book was released, Carson was vilified by the patriarchal titans of the chemical industry who tried to discredit her work yet her perseverance, intellect and passion prevailed. The book led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides and sparked a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The most important legacy of Silent Spring, though, was a new public awareness that nature was vulnerable to human intervention. 

We are forever grateful to Rachel Carson for the contributions she made to science and environmental conservation. Even more so for her courage, wit and determination in taking on the most powerful industry of her day and rising to the challenge like an earth warrior in defense of nature.  She established the roots of a movement we are still growing today.

Learn more about Rachel here

Samuel Mockbee

Samuel Mockbee was an architect, educator and artist who dedicated his life to teaching ethical architecture and utilizing his skills to provide sustainable, low-cost homes and community assets to people in need. Following his appointment of Professor of Architecture within Auburn University’s School of Architecture, Mockbee co-founded the Rural Studio with his friend and colleague D.K. Ruth. Together they created an education and outreach program dedicated to building houses, community centers and other structures for the residents of poverty-stricken Hale County, Alabama. This program has influenced an entire generation of architects while introducing his students the ethical dimensions of art and architecture and possibilities of their chosen craft. 

The work of Mockbee and the Rural Studio greatly influenced our understanding of architecture as a force for social change. The staying power of their work is rooted in the mindset of ‘being in service to community,’ a phrase and ethos that resonates strongly with our work at Urban Apostles. In this way, a vernacular of architecture may be born of place and arise from the people and culture that it shelters and surrounds. Sam left us with many quotes over his lifetime but this is one of our favourites, “It’s not about your greatness as an architect, but your compassion.”

Learn more about Sam’s work here, or better yet treat yourself to a viewing of Citizen Architect.

koloman moser and josef hoffman

At the dawn of the 20th century, a group of Austrian artists, designers and architects came together to cross-pollinate their ideas and works among all artistic disciplines with the intention of creating Gesamkunstwerk (a total work of art). The explosion of creativity that followed became know at the Vienna Secession Movement. In an era that included Gutav Klimpt, Egon Schiele and Christian Schad, two of the most prolific contributors to this movement were the artist Koloman Moser and architect and designer Josef Hoffmann.

A prodigious artist and designer, Moser excelled in interior design, applied arts, graphic design and painting. Hoffmann became one of Austria's most important architects and designers. Moser and Hoffmann went on to establish the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese Workshops), a progressive alliance of artists and designers linked to the Vienna Secession. Their objective was “to penetrate everyday life with artistic and aesthetic high-quality products.” Operating from 1903 to 1932, The Wiener Werkstätte was one of the most enduring design movements of the twentieth century and a key contributor to the birth of modernism. 

Admittedly, we have an unhealthy obsession with the portfolio of work that came out of this era and we will always find a way to incorporate a touch of Moser’s and Hoffmann’s influence in our work. We are most inspired, however, by the idea that a group of artists and thinkers formed an alliance to start a design movement. This was our inspiration for establishing the City Makers’ Guild. If you ever find yourself in Vienna, make sure to stop by the MAK museum which houses the Wiener Werkstätte collection.

Learn more about Moser here and Hoffmann here.

Thelonious Sphere Monk

The most important jazz musicians are the ones who become so adept at their craft that they can manipulate the field to create an original style of music with its own rules, logic, and surprises. A style maverick renowned for his  distinct look and a musical genius, Thelonious Monk was a rule-breaker who charted his own idiosyncratic path in the world of mid-twentieth century jazz. A prodigious composer, over the course of his career several of his compositions were added to catalogue of jazz standards including ‘Straight No Chaser’, ‘Round Midnight”, “Epistrophy” and “Let’s Cool One.”

Jason’s discovery of Monk coincided with the start of his love of cities. As a youth in New York City, he would often walk the streets of Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side listing to Monk, drawing on the sounds and rhythms of the city. Like jazz, cities need improvisations, dissonances, interventions and melodic twists to give them character and make them flow in their own unique way. We believe that to approach city making as an art form requires a bit of constraint. As Miles Davis famously stated “It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.” 

Learn more about Monk here.

Hella jongerius

A consummate industrial designer, artist, teacher and connoisseur of colour, Hella Jongerius is a profoundly creative soul and the driving force behind Jongeriuslab. Like Moser and Hoffman before her, she was instrumental in advancing a new design movement as part Droog Design in the early 1990’s before stepping out to make her own mark on the world. Following the ideals of long-termism, her designs focus on combining opposites; new technology and handmade objects, industrial manufacturing and craftsmanship, the traditional and the contemporary. Through this lens, Jongerius has evolved a distinctive approach to fusing technology and craft to produce exceptionally designed textiles, crockery, and furniture that immediately draw you in and capture your imagination. In all of her work, however, colour has always played a central theme.

We have been drawn to Hella’s work since she was first shown at the 1994 Milan Furniture Fair (now Salone Del Mobile) as part of the Droog Design exhibition and have been following her ever since (hoping for a major collaboration one day!). We continue to be inspired by her collection and ingenious use of colour and feel strongly aligned to Hella’s ethos that her work is “part of a never-ending process’ just as our work in city making is.  Like our mission, we sense that she too aims to ‘delight the human spirit.’

Learn more about Hella here.