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English translation excerpts from an interview on waterfront development in A Caruña, Spain, from #lavozdegalicia — but applicable to transformative projects in many places around the world….

Chris Reed, Landscape Architect, Urbanist, and Professor at Harvard In the port there is ambition to do something truly transformative. The expert will participate this Friday in the conference on the maritime façade. Working with the local fabric is very important for international firms.

Rethinking a city sometimes involves taking one or two steps back to allow new perspectives to emerge. This is the vision of landscape architect and urbanist Chris Reed, who, in addition to being a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, is the founder of the international firm Stoss Landscape Urbanism (based in Boston). This Friday, he will take part in the Juana de Vega Foundation’s conference on the maritime façade of A Coruña.

Recently, the repetition of the competition for the maritime façade has been announced. Can bureaucratic issues end up being a problem for urban transformation projects?

The project for the port and for the city is very ambitious. It has enormous potential to set the path for future transformations. And that’s why it’s so important that everything is done properly. This sometimes happens. You need to take a step back and rethink certain aspects to reach your goal. It’s really not unusual to see this in these types of projects. It’s essential to move forward with everything in order from the very beginning, and that sometimes means taking a step back. Sometimes, you simply need time. It can be frustrating, but I think it can also be a good thing…

International firms also need to find ways to integrate the identity of the city they are working in. How do you do this?

It’s fair that people from the city itself ask these kinds of questions. It’s something we should do, and we approach it from two angles. A very important part is what we learn after carrying out a deep immersion in the place. We talk with people and simply observe carefully how the city works and how its people live. In fact, firms that have worked in many different countries are the best positioned to notice which specific characteristics are truly unique to each place. But another fundamental element is the construction of teams. We need to integrate people who know the place well.

Does this also mean working directly with local companies?

Totally. When we build our teams, we take into account the regional offer. These kinds of relationships allow us to explore a space that helps us put down roots in the project. Partnerships with the local fabric are very important for firms working abroad.