Carol Berens

Carol Berens, an architect and author, lives in New York City. She often writes for the urban design blog, UrbDeZine.

Carol is the author of Redeveloping Industrial Sites (Wiley, 2011) and Hotel Bars and Lobbies (Mc-Graw Hill, 1996). She's written articles on design and urban issues for various magazines and was the Associate Editor for The Paris Times, a former English-language monthly newspaper published in Paris.

As a former vice president at the Empire State Development Corporation, Carol led efforts in the land development of several upstate mixed-use communities as well as the sale and development of surplus state-owned land. 

The germ of the idea for Redeveloping Industrial Sites, started with a short article on the new Paris parks way back in 1998 for the now-defunct TWA Ambassador. Through visits to these parks and interviews with the architects and city planners, she saw how Paris’s industrial past was being transformed into not only into new parks, but new neighborhoods. Of course, Paris isn’t the only city that is confronted with the ruins of its earlier industry. The exploration into how other countries and cities are continuing to reinvent themselves has been an interesting and fun journey.

Carol received her M. Arch from Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Peservation and her B.A. from its School of General Studies. As an architect, she first worked at Marcel Breuer Assoicates in Paris. She returned to New York City where she worked for Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Assoicates before joining several private developers and then  the Empire State Development Corporation.