Lauded modern British architect Richard Rogers dies at 88

Rogers believed his work on the task force, which laid out a vision for compact cities “where people live, work and enjoy leisure time at close quarters,” to be one of his most important achievements. He said he was captivated by the idea of the piazza — the center of public life in Italian cities.

“Cities are a stage where people perform and buildings are the sets that frame the performance,” he said. “A place for all.”

In 1995, Rogers was the first architect asked to deliver the BBC Reith Lectures, an annual series designed to increase public understanding and debate about important issues.

Two years before the Kyoto Protocol was ratified, Rogers warned that cities were one of the main drivers of global warming because they were designed around automobiles. This focus on cars allowed development to encroach ever further into the countryside, divided cities into distinct zones for work, housing and recreation and led to “inefficient and hostile architecture” that neglected public spaces, he said.

Instead, Rogers promoted a vision of densely populated cities developed around technology and mass transit.

“We are witnessing technological developments that, if creatively exploited, could give our cities a new lease of life, making them greener, more sociable, more beautiful,” he said. “Above all, more exciting.”