"There are more post-professional students," says Rowe. "We need to shift that way."

Rowe says the Design School will begin more intense academic planning in the fall. The dean-designate also says he will encourage more collaborative management of the Design School.

In addition, Rowe, who was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, says he would like to establish a program in physical planning which would focus on the economic, social and legal management of cities and towns.

"I get a lot of calls from local officials in towns asking if [we] have any graduates who can...help them in the physical planning of cities," Rowe says.

Rowe says urban designers can play an important role in the effort to rebuild the nation's decaying cities.

"One of the things [designers] can do is show the way certain sites can be...transformed from decay to something usable," Rowe says.

But he adds, "There are some things that can't be done. You can't re-imagine all of the Bronx."