Blair Kamin is the architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune and the writer of the Cityscapes blog. He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism and continues a tradition of accessible but authoritative criticism begun by the Tribune's first modern-day architecture critic, Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Gapp.

Born in Red Bank, N.J., Kamin is a graduate of Amherst College, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in 1979, and the Yale University School of Architecture, from which he received a Master of Environmental Design in 1984. He holds honorary degrees from Monmouth University and North Central College, where he serves as an adjunct professor of art. He has lectured widely and has discussed architecture on programs ranging from ABC's "Nightline" to WTTW-Ch. 11's "Chicago Tonight." The University of Chicago Press has published two collections of his columns: "Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago" (2001) and "Terror and Wonder: Architecture in a Tumultuous Age" (2010). He also wrote the commentaries for "Tribune Tower: American Landmark," a guide to the newspaper's neo-Gothic skyscraper published in 2000.

Kamin is the recipient more than 30 awards, including the Pulitzer, which he received in 1999 for a body of work highlighted by a series of articles about the problems and promise of Chicago's greatest public space, its lakefront. He has twice served as a Pulitzer Prize juror.

Kamin lives with his wife, Chicago Tribune reporter Barbara Mahany, and their two sons in north suburban Wilmette.

A new link for Cityscapes; this blog is going mobile 8/13/2012
As of Monday, August 13, Cityscapes will shift to a new format and a new link, one that will allow you to access the blog from your mobile phone as well your desktop. Here's the link: www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/cityscapes/. The writings of...

Bye, bye, Chi-town; hello, Beantown; dear readers--I'm off on a fellowship and will see you next year 8/10/2012
From Sunday's print edition I’ve never liked being out of the paper for too long. When my byline disappears, I am assume readers think one of three things: A) I got lazy; B) I got fired; C) I’m dead. Architects...

Pounded by the weather, Wright's Glencoe subdivision markers are crumbling 8/9/2012
One of the most memorable details at Frank Lloyd Wright's Ravine Bluffs subdivision in Glencoe is in need of some serious TLC. The subdivision, which includes six Wright-designed houses and three boldly sculpted markers of poured concrete, was built in...

Dutch architect and educator is IIT's next architecture dean 8/7/2012
The Illinois Institute of Technology announced Tuesday that it has named Dutch architect and educator Wiel Arets as the new dean of its architecture school. Arets, currently a professor of building, planning and design at the Berlin University for the...

Less parking, more parklets: City hopes new 'people spots' will increase foot traffic; first designs are more pragmatic than creative 8/3/2012
From today's print edition Does it make sense to turn on-street parking spaces into miniature urban parks and plazas where people can sit, eat, check their mobile phones, read a book, take a catnap or watch the world go by?...