Planning & Public Spaces

Good planning connects the physical character of a place with the needs of the people who live, work, and spend time there. It recognizes that communities are also ecological systems and that streams, wetlands, soils, trees, vegetation, and other natural features provide essential ecosystem services. Thoughtful planning and design can protect and strengthen these systems while creating places that support human health, encourage social connection, and improve quality of life.

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I provide planning services for municipalities, public agencies, property owners, and organizations considering the future of neighborhoods, parks, streets, public spaces, and communities.

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I am particularly interested in projects that require thinking about a place as a whole and working across scales. I can contribute to broad questions about land use, natural resources, and the character and function of a place, and remain involved as those ideas are translated into the design of public spaces and specific choices about planting, trees, and materials.

 

Planning Services

 

Services can include:

• Neighborhood and district master plans

• Parks and open-space master plans

• Assistance with municipal comprehensive plans

• Planning for plazas, streetscapes, parks, and other public spaces

• Site and land-use analysis

• Public involvement and community planning

• Research, policy analysis, and planning recommendations

 

Connecting Planning and Place

 

Planning documents are most useful when they do more than establish policies or identify future land uses. They should help people understand what a place can become and provide a practical framework for getting there.

 

My expertise is in land-use and natural-resource planning, landscape and planting design, and arboriculture. Depending on the project, I work independently or as part of a multidisciplinary team with architects, landscape architects, engineers, planners, urban designers, ecologists, and other specialists. On multidisciplinary projects, I can contribute to urban design while bringing particular attention to landscape, planting, trees, natural systems, and how decisions made at different scales work together. See my Eugene Market District redevelopment concept for an example of planning housing, amenities, and green space together.

 

Discuss a Planning Project

 

If you are considering a neighborhood, landscape, public-space, or comprehensive planning project, I would be glad to discuss the project and where my experience might be useful.