Sam Gennawey is an urban planner and planning historian who has always been fascinated by theme parks, amusement parks, and World’s Fair, especially the intersection between history, design, and function.

Over the past 12 years he has worked on more then 120 projects and has designed and facilitated more than 700 community workshops and design Charrettes. 

Before that he spent more then 20 years as a recording and broadcasting executive. Most recently he is becoming known as a keen observer of the history and art of placemaking. He is the author of Walt and the Promise of Progress City, a book that chronicles Walt Disney’s interest in creating functional and meaningful places and how we react to his creations. Mr. Gennawey has contributed to a number of books on the topic of themed environments and he also writes a weekly column for MiceAge.com called Samland. Mr. Gennawey is frequently invited to speak at urban planning and theme park related events. 
[Website] [My Posts]

Sunday, June 10, 2012 Why Disneyland Works    For many Disneyland guests, there is a sense of timelessness inside the earthen berm that surrounds the park. In Disneyland Through the Decades, Jeff Kurtti said that frequently visiting the park “is revelatory in the drastic change you will see – and the almost complete lack of change you will see.” If you want to get a sense of the tremendous change that has occurred over the years, there is a model of Disneyland on opening day in 1955 tucked into a wall at the museum on Main Street....View more

Thursday, April 05, 2012 Disney, Theme Parks and a "messy vitality".    Last time I talked about Walt Disney and his Imagineers’ desire to create a place that reassures us that everything will be okay while we were having a good time with our families. How did they accomplish this?...View more

Friday, February 24, 2012 "Disneyland not escapism but reassurance."    Hello Blooloop guests. Welcome to the Sam Gennawey blog. I am an urban planner and planning historian that has a thing for theme parks, amusement parks, and World’s Fairs....View more

Latest Posts

Categories

Archives

Blogrolls

Authors

Feeds