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Make your town or place beautiful

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Learn classic planning and traditional architecture

We have thousands of years of wisdom on building cities.
It is time to do what works. The answer is on our doorstep.

A more beautiful world awaits.

Transform your city to make it as good as the best in the world

Practice the lost skills that architecture schools aren’t teaching

Build with sustainable and enduring traditional techniques

We are an architecture and planning studio, an academy, and a community of practice. Our students and clients come from all over the world

I’m a developer, citizen, or city representative

Build a beautiful, walkable city or city precinct with exquisite architecture and healthy and happy people that will last hundreds of years.

I’m a practicing architect or urban planner

Embark on a life-changing journey to refine your craft and become one of the world’s few few classically certified professionals.

I want to learn architecture or planning

If you are a mid-career professional or graduate seeking a career in architecture or planning, or if you are an enthusiast, our courses will offer you the best foundation.

Why we are different, and why it matters

Affordably
changing cities

We have made mistakes planning our cities and towns. Sometimes these problems seem insurmountable. With our pragmatic, feasible and cost-effective approach, hope is here. If every place adopted our methods, the difference would be transformative.

Affordably changing cities and healing traffic
Tuscan Countryside Environmental champions

Environmental champions

Climate change poses a terrible threat, but consumer movements and renewable energy fail to address the root cause of environmental harm: our reckless built environment. We can address this without undue privation ⁠— indeed, with a classical approach, we are poised to flourish.

Villa Rotunda Justice urban environmental beauty

Justice through beauty

Our philosophy and practice repairs the damage done to civic life and the social fabric by failed urban planning and poor-quality building. We believe that a good community starts with a good built environment and that everyone in the street deserves beauty.

Giving people what they want

Research shows that most people prefer traditional architecture and walkable, compact cities. It is in the interests of city administrators to recognize the preferences of citizens, while a commercial opportunity awaits for open-minded developers.

lovely street cafe what people  want happiness
San Pietro Rome urbanism Wisdom refined over centuries

Wisdom refined over centuries

Urban planners seek to innovate, but often struggle to achieve holistic change at scale. Instead of small interventions, buzzwords and theory, we offer pragmatic, wise and beautifully simple solutions that are possible to implement at scale in the world’s biggest cities.

beauitful mughal Local traditional beauty

Local traditional beauty

Many architecture schools do not teach traditional design techniques from non-Western countries in adequate depth. Whilst typical university courses are focused on global architectural styles instead of local traditions, ours is focused on reclaiming their wisdom.

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The science behind our work

You likely have a gut feeling about what ’feels right’ and good when you walk down the street. This feeling is backed up by science. Research demonstrates that we are healthier and happier in compact towns and cities with traditional architecture and planning ⁠— in fact, exquisite architecture and successful urbanism measurably reduce stress and increase human wellbeing.

Our mission is fundamentally about beauty and authenticity in the built environment as a means to human wellbeing.

Read more about the research for an empirical basis of beauty.

Buy the book The Art of Classic Planning Nir Buras

Buy the book

The Art of Classic Planning by Classic Planning Institute Founder Dr. Nir Haim Buras, Harvard University Press, 2019

“Truly the mother of all urban planning books.” 

— Léon Krier, author of The Architecture of Community

“We urgently need to relearn the art of building beautiful and enduring communities, as set out [here].”

— Ben Bolgar, The Prince’s Foundation

4.5 stars on Amazon

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Do you have big plans for your city?

Join our ambitious movement focused on creating better cities, at scale.

Support our mission

 

Your generosity allows the Classic Planning Institute to publish research, host events and offer scholarships to Classic Planning Academy students. All contributions, large and small, are appreciated.

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