The Wilder School invites leading experts in planning, architecture, or urban design to VCU each year through the annual Gulak Lecture. Launched in 2013, the lecture series honors the memory of Morton B. Gulak, Ph.D., who helped establish the Urban and Regional Planning program more than 40 years ago. Dr. Gulak, who died in 2012, taught at VCU for 38 years, inspiring hundreds of students in the areas of urban design, urban revitalization, physical planning, and the application of professional planning methods.

Gary Hack, Ph.D., an eminent scholar-practitioner who writes and advises on large-scale physical planning and urban design, will deliver the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs’ 2019 Morton B. Gulak Lecture in Urban and Regional Planning on Sept. 18.

Hack’s lecture, “The New Mobility and the Sustainable City: Challenges and Opportunities,” will take place at 7 p.m. in University Student Commons, 907 Floyd Ave. The event is free and open to the public. 

Hack’s work examines autonomous vehicles (AV) and other emerging transportation modes and their impact on cities. He is a professor emeritus and the former dean of the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Penn, he was a professor of urban design and head of the department of urban studies and planning at MIT. Hack has studied, taught and practiced urban design for more than four decades, developing plans for cities, neighborhoods and developments in over 35 cities in the US, Canada and Asia, including New Orleans, New York, Detroit, Bangkok and Taipei. Other works include the redevelopment of Prudential Center in Boston, the transformation of the West Side Waterfront in New York and a collaboration with Studio Daniel Libeskind on the winning entry for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center. He is the co-author of several influential books including “Site Planning,” “Global Regional Cities” and “Urban Design in a Global Context.” 

“We are honored to have Gary Hack as this year’s Gulak lecturer,” said James Smither, assistant professor of Urban and Regional Studies and Planning and chair of the Gulak Lecture Committee. “He will bring an expert perspective to a major issue in the Richmond region — how to design future transportation systems for a sustainable future.”