Twenty years ago, a Washington-based architecture critic was invited to ruminate in a local magazine about Rouse's new city as it turned 20.
He called Columbia's downtown "salvageable."
Roger K. Lewis also concluded in his 1989 article that there was no "there" in Town Center in responding to the article's central question, "Are we there yet?" But he left the door open to possibility.
Lewis - an architect, University of Maryland professor emeritus and columnist - returns Wednesday to assess Columbia's progress after two decades.
He will give a talk on "Becoming a City: Lessons for Downtown Columbia" as the guest of Bring Back the Vision, a group formed in 2006 to support the ideals of Columbia's founder, James W. Rouse.
Now, Lewis describes the architecture of Town Center as "mediocre," calls its lack of a geometric grid of navigable streets "lamentable," refers to its dominant shopping mall as "regrettable" and says its hidden lakefront is "under-exploited."
And yes, "salvageable" still comes to mind when he surveys Columbia.
"Columbia is a distinct settlement with the identity, population and geography of a city - it just doesn't look or behave like one," he said.
The critic said he will not render a detailed analysis of Columbia during his presentation but will offer generic observations and suggestions gleaned from lessons learned by other cities and from Columbia's own mistakes and successes.
The Washington resident's visit comes during a pregnant pause in the continuing discussion of Columbia's redevelopment, as the new 30-year master plan submitted by its owner, General Growth Properties, is reviewed by the county's planning board.
"I think we will all learn some things we didn't know before" from Lewis' presentation, said Emily Lincoln, a 40-year Columbia resident and spokeswoman for Bring Back the Vision.
"We need to somehow bring the community together on this," she said, referring to arriving at a consensus on GGP's recommendations for revitalizing Columbia.
"Reaching a consensus on the vision of a place is always the most difficult part," Lewis said.
In these early stages of considering the redevelopment, consensus in the community has been elusive. At public hearings and meetings on the plan in recent months, some citizens have offered up sharp criticism of various aspects of the GGP plan.
