Joining the mayors at this National Session was a distinguished group of resource team members: Peter Cook, AIA, Principal at Davis Brody Bond, LLP; Betsy Jackson, President of The Urban Agenda, Inc.; Tim Love, AIA, Principal at Utile, Inc.; Steven McKay, Associate AIA, LEED AP, Senior Principal at DLR Group; Bonnie Nelson, Principal of Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates; Margie Ruddick, Principal of Margie Ruddick Landscape Architecture; and Shin-pei Tsay, LEED AP, Director of Cities and Transportation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The experts listed above in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, real estate, transportation, and historic preservation joined the mayors in the two-and-a-half-day discussions. They offered pragmatic advice on how the mayors could approach the urban design challenges facing each of their cities. Click here to read further details about each project as well as goals for the session. We’d like to give a warm thank you to sponsor, United Technologies Corporation, for their continued support. We also would like to thank Unico as well as Cannon Design for hosting the working session in their St. Louis office.

The Mayors’ Institute on City Design is a National Endowment for the Arts leadership initiative in partnership with the American Architectural Foundation and the United States Conference of Mayors. The 53^rd National Session was sponsored in part by United Technologies Corporation.  Since 1986, the Mayors’ Institute has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities.  The Mayors’ Institute conducts several sessions each year. For a list of upcoming events, past attendees, or for more information, visit www.micd.org.

{Image courtesy of MICD}

WHO
Architects, Engineers, General Contractors, Construction Managers, Owners, Developers, BAC Signatory Contractors, BAC Members, and all Industry-related Firms

WHEN & WHERE
Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 8 am – 12 pm
BAC/IMI John J. Flynn International Training Center
17101 Science Drive, Bowie, MD 20715

Detailed information on the event, including the schedule, is available here. 

While the program is free, registration is required, as space is limited. Register.

PROGRAM

Design, Maintenance, and Repair of the Masonry Building Envelope 
David Sovinski, National Director of Industry Development, International Masonry Institute

The building envelope / enclosure requires attention at every phase of the life cycle, from initial conception through design, construction, periodic inspections, maintenance and repair. This seminar gives advice for design professionals, facility managers, building contractors and craftworkers on how to maximize the effective performance of the enclosure throughout its life cycle. Special emphasis on how the enclosure manages thermal performance, water penetration, air and vapor transmission, and how design and maintenance can keep these control functions operating at a high level.

The Evolution of Masonry Restoration
Dennis Rude, Founder, Cathedral Stone Products
Good restoration of historic masonry requires a balanced approach between the application of traditional materials and techniques with the need for results that protect the original composition are cost effective and achievable by a modern workforce. Common wisdom dictates that our repair materials be natural and sustainable as well as compatible in every way with the historic materials they are trying to emulate. This can only be achieved by applying a scientific approach that is customizable to each unique circumstance while being readily achievable by a trained workforce. This presentation addresses the scientific approach to longer lasting restoration combined with fifty years of experience in the field, and the logic on how masonry restoration is approached today.

Hands on Demonstration
Attendees will have an opportunity to participate in a hands-on demonstration. Please dress in comfortable clothes and wear closed toe shoes.

Image courtesy of the International Masonry Institute.

The following gallery of images represent the collaborative charrette that ensued on Thursday and Friday as project teams from Brooklyn, Fresno, Macon and New Haven worked with design experts to tackle their key urban issues including:

• New commercial zoning overlays and watershed restoration for Brownsville, Brooklyn
• Parklettes and incorporation of existing Arts District for the Fulton Mall revitalization
• Community engagement strategies and gateway creation for the Second Street Plan
• Phased planning and new connections to existing neighborhoods for the Mill River District

Click here to read more about the cities, design experts and project leaders that participated in the event. We’d like to thank all of our friends and partners in the Bay Area for helping to make this event a success, especially our sponsor United Technologies Corporation.

{Images courtesy of Elliot Balch and AAF} 

Creating a Virtual Integrated Village
Professor Dennis Domer, University of Kansas
The Technology Research Group
New Cities Long Life Communities Initiative

The goal of our research is to develop a prototype intergenerational long life community. This community will attract both aging Baby Boomers, of whom more than 80,000,000 will reach retirement age within the next twenty years, and other age groups. Our integrated online and real-time community will promote active and healthy lifestyles, reduce healthcare costs, assist residents in entering “encore” careers, promote sustainability, enable residents to remain in the community when age might otherwise make this problematic, provide residents with opportunities for further education, promote community involvement, promote virtual and real-time access to cultural institutions and the arts, and assist residents in maintaining family ties

The Technology Research Group, a part of the New Cities Long Life Communities Initiative (NCLLCI), has been working for the past year to develop a conceptual model of a fully integrated virtual and real-time system for a prototype long life community. To achieve this goal we have put together an interdisciplinary team to develop new products and services. Each member of the team plays two roles: as a specialist and as group member encouraged to critique others’ ideas. We are creating a process that is integrative of talents and specialties across the University and that is designed to foster public/private partnerships.

Within the last decade gerontologists and senior housing specialists have begun to experiment with what has been called the “virtual retirement village” concept. This concept is one that envisages the use of the Internet and Internet service and goods providers to enable seniors to remain in their existing single-family homes. We plan to carry this concept several steps further and to utilize ubiquitous technologies to enrich the lives of people who move into purpose-built long life housing communities.  We call it the “Virtual Integrated Village” (VIV). We will create a technologically integrated living environment that will enhance the lives of residents and other community members.

There are a number of aspects of the Virtual Integrated Village concept that are central to the community we envision.  First, the VIV would be available to all residents in the housing development as part of their basic service package. Residents would also have the option to have enhanced services as part of their basic VIV subscription through additional charges. Second, the central processing facility used to provide security and remote health monitoring would be part of the VIV.  The VIV would include other functions such as:

• Basic entertainment, communication, and social networking services for community residents;
• Virtual participation in community events as well as whole community meetings to discuss and decide issues of community concern;
• Support for the rapid growth of Internet-based distance learning and adult-oriented lifelong learning programs, and increased access to cultural and artistic programs and cultural institutions;
• Assistance to community members with transportation, shopping, community and religious activities, and scheduling share cars and guest housing for family members;
• Availability of nutritional and healthy and active lifestyle information for community members.

Our purpose is to design an affordable and sustainable long life housing community that will seamlessly link smart technologies into residents’ homes and transport to enhance community members’ lives. For example, medical diagnostic sensors may be installed both in homes and cars to monitor the health of community members. Second, solar energy panels will provide supplemental energy to residences and provide energy for residents’ cars. Third, central garaging units equipped with charging stations will be available to residents to house and charge their own cars, but, also, will be used to provide a fleet of  “share cars.” Fourth, the integrated online system will be used to provide virtual access to art spaces and cultural institutions otherwise unavailable to some residents. The integration of transportation and housing smart technologies can provide significant cost-savings for residents, increased security and health monitoring, increased educational and cultural opportunities for residents, and increased environmental sustainability for the community as a whole.

One of the most important of the technologies available for long life housing is that which permits remote health monitoring of community residents. At present there are a wide range of such technologies available for incorporation into units, including sensors that provide real time readings of a resident’s metabolic functions. Such devices can also provide enhanced security for residents in case of fall, unconsciousness, or serious medical mishap. Other emerging technologies, such as bathroom displays coupled with RFID devices and “talking” medication containers can improve patient compliance with prescriptions.

A central data facility will be established either in or adjacent to a stand-alone medical facility. In this way, a medical professional will have access streamed medical information from residences on an as needed basis. By using “plug and play” sensors as residents age or become ill, they could have their in-home diagnostic technologies upgraded easily with a minimum of disruption and could contract for increased services. A central purpose of the health and wellness functions of the VIV is to lengthen the period in which residents are able to remain in their homes on their own and avoid the need for assisted living facilities. In this, the VIV concept differs profoundly from current continuing care retirement communities.

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About Professor Denis Domer >> Dennis Domer manages the New Cities: Long Life Communities interdisciplinary initiative on aging and the built environment at the University of Kansas and directs the Boomer Futures Think Tank. The initiative, now two years old, is a public-private partnership in search of new housing paradigms for the Baby Boomer generation, their children, grandchildren, and friends. 

Professor Domer is an inter-disciplinarian by nature, having taught architectural history, American Studies, historic preservation, museum studies, urban planning, western civilization, and German for almost 40 years. He has chaired four academic departments and served as acting dean and associate dean of architecture for 20 years. He was appointed Clay Lancaster Distinguished Professor of Historic Preservation and later Helen Abel Chair of Historic Preservation at the University of Kentucky where the also led the Center for Historic Architecture and Preservation. He has retired twice but is now again at the University of Kansas.

AAF President and CEO Ron Bogle shares his thoughts about these ideas in the video below. As AAF continues talking about this topic, we invite you to join us as we seek answers and ideas for the role of design in communities and how it can positively impact our aging populations.

The American Architectural Foundation is pleased to share an overview as well as next steps from our Design for Aging Forum that was held in February 2012. The Forum inspired us to continue talking through our #DesignReady twitter chat series. We held our chat on April 24th with special guest, Architectural Record (@ArchRecord). A big thank you to everyone who participated in the conversation. We will be posting the transcript from the chat soon. 

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DESIGN FOR AN AGING POPULATION:

A Report from the AAF Design for Aging Forum

The first of the United States’ 79 million Baby Boomers turned 65 in 2011, signaling a key demographic shift that will redefine American culture and society for at least the next century. It will also profoundly affect the way we design our neighborhoods and cities.

In 2010 according to the US Census Bureau, 40.3 million Americans (roughly 13 percent of the total US population) were aged 65 or older. By 2050, that group will more than double in size to 88.5 million and will include one in five Americans. Over that same period, the number of Americans aged 85 or older is projected to rise from 5.1 million to a whopping 21 million, an increase of 400 percent.

This aging of the US population will likely level off around 2030, but demographers don’t foresee a reversal anytime soon. Life expectancies are up thanks to advances in health and healthcare, so much so that more than one third of babies born today in developed countries could live to see 100. In addition, according to the Pew Research Center, the Millennial generation, born from 1980 to 1998, is as large as (if not larger than) the Baby Boom generation.

What does all this mean? Simply put, more people are living longer, and the quality of life in America across the generations will hinge on our ability to adapt to our new reality. Central to our success will be our capacity to design cities that support and inspire new and creative paths to lifelong fulfillment. Toward that end, on February 17, 2012, in Washington, DC, the American Architectural Foundation convened a national forum of experts and innovators working at the intersection of aging and design.

The goals of the AAF Design for Aging Forum were exploratory: to better understand the existing landscape and the work being done by individuals and organizations across the United States; to identify and clarify challenges and opportunities faced by cities; and to explore possible roles for AAF in helping to advance innovations in design for aging.

Attendees and other notable contributors to the conversation included:

•  Kathy Anderson, President and CEO, Goodwin House Incorporated, Virginia
• Scott Ball, Senior Project Manager, Duany Plater-Zybeck, Georgia
• Ronald E. Bogle, Hon. AIA, President and CEO, American Architectural Foundation (Moderator), District of Columbia
• Brad Calvert, AICP, Senior Planner, Denver Regional Council of Government, Colorado
• Greg Case, Project Officer, Administration on Aging, District of Columbia
• Dan Cinelli, FAIA, Principal and Executive Director, Perkins Eastman, District of Columbia
• Dennis Domer, PhD, Professor, University of Kansas, Kansas
• Elinor Ginzler, Director, Cahnmann Center for Supportive Services, Jewish Council for the Aging, Maryland
• John Haaga, Deputy Director, Division of Behavioral and Social Research, National Institute on Aging, Maryland
• J. David Hoglund, FAIA, Principal and Executive Director, Perkins Eastman, Pennsylvania
• Matthias Hollwich, Principal, HWKN, New York
• Laura Keyes, AICP, Senior Principal Program Specialist, Aging Division, Atlanta Regional Commission Livable Communities;
  President-elect, Georgia Planning Association, Georgia
• Scott Lauer, AIA, Vice President of Programs, American Architectural Foundation, District of Columbia
• Jana Lynott, AICP, Strategic Policy Advisor, AARP Public Policy Institute
• Sandy Markwood, CEO, National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a), District of Columbia
• Michael Morris, JD, Executive Director, Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University, New York
• Jo Reed, Senior Manager, National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a), District of Columbia
• Sue Sprecher, Producer, Aging in Place, Vital Pictures, Massachusetts
• Philip Stafford, PhD, Director, Center for Aging and Community, University of Indiana; Author of Elderurbia, Indiana
• Edward Steinfeld, AIA, Director, Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access, University of Buffalo, New York
• Graham Stroh, Program Manager, American Architectural Foundation, District of Columbia
• Kathy Sykes, Senior Advisor, Aging and Sustainability Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, District of Columbia

What follows is an introduction to some of the most insightful and inspiring moments in that conversation.

WHAT BOOMERS WANT

According to Professor Dennis Domer, who is doing pioneering research on design for aging at the University of Kansas, Baby Boomers are determined to buck traditional models for aging and retirement: “They don’t want what their parents want, and more than anything they are searching for a meaningful life as they age.” Among those outmoded models are the age-segregated retirement communities favored by their parents, not to mention the more institutional assisted living facilities and nursing homes that continue to be a staple of the elder-care industry.

Bolstering this aversion to the status quo is the experience of Boomers who are currently providing care for their aging parents, with about 70 percent of Boomers having at least one living parent. In their role as family member and/or caregiver, Boomers have seen the opportunities available to their aging parents and are rejecting this framework.

What do Boomers want instead? At the AAF Forum, Domer offered a series of guiding principles culled from his research:

• To be physically active and live in walkable communities;
• To give back to and engage in their communities;
• To be close to their children and friends and to live in an intergenerational setting;
• To pursue continuing education, culture, and sports;
• To have good transportation options that help to preserve their independence;
• To live near medical services;
• To live in a safe environment;
• To have affordable options;
• To have meaningful lives and “encore” careers;
• To benefit from smart technologies;
• To enjoy clean, precise, easy living;
• To be supported by universal design features.

For many, the ideal is to age in place, continuing their lives right where they are, in the communities that have become an essential part of who they are (and in many ways, they are essential parts of those communities as well).

Boomers also have higher expectations than previous generations in the marketplace. According to Kathy Anderson of Goodwin House, a non-profit organization that just completed development of $150 million in continuing care retirement communities in the DC metro area, “[Boomers] have a strong consumer orientation and will demand choice, variety, flexibility, and active engagement as they age and want to live as independently as possible for as long as they can.”

Still, a mainstream body of alternative ideas and models for life after 65 has yet to be produced. According to Domer, what is lacking more than anything is “imagination” about the possibilities for aging and retirement.

To help fuel their imagination, a vocabulary that promotes new and big thinking is required. Words and phrases like “aging,” “old,” “elderly,” “senior citizen,” “retirement,” and “golden years”  reinforce outmoded concepts shunned by Boomers and can stand in the way of innovation. Not only will this new vocabulary aid in the creative process, but it will also be essential to the ability of innovators to communicate their ideas clearly and compellingly to both policy makers and the public.

FINANCIAL REALITIES
Coupled with the desires and aspirations of the Boomers are some hard financial realities that are further ushering the traditional modes of aging and retirement into obsolescence. According to Ed Steinfeld, AIA, executive director of the Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access at the University of Buffalo, several of the largest corporations that develop planned communities for seniors have gone bankrupt because the economic model that supported them simply doesn’t work anymore. In the past, people were able to sell their homes, which had appreciated in value, to move into those communities, but the Great Recession of recent years has depressed the market, eliminating this option.

The collapse of the housing market coupled with the resultant financial crisis wreaked havoc on the retirement plans of millions of Boomers. According to a December 2009 report by the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging, between September 2007 and May 2009, retirement account balances went down a combined $2.7 trillion (31 percent).

In May of 2010, MetLife conducted a national survey of Boomers, and 52 percent of respondents reported being “behind in the progress of their retirement savings.” Moreover, 25 percent said they were “significantly behind where they hoped to be,” and seven percent had not even started to save for retirement.

Corroborating these findings is a report released by the Insured Retirement Institute in August 2010. According to that report, the general attitude of Boomers toward their retirement finances is “pessimistic,” with 60 percent projecting that they will outlive their retirement savings.

In addition, government funding streams are typically aimed at simply meeting basic needs. Brad Calvert from the Denver Regional Council on Government noted that his organization had done a recent and extensive survey of Boomers and that the number one issue for 70 percent of those surveyed was to have more opportunities for civic engagement. The problem: “there is little funding for that support versus meals on wheels, health, etc.”

The challenge thus will be how to create a range of design options that meet Boomers’ needs while taking into account their desires, personal finances, and the potential for support from other funding streams.

THE ZONING HURDLE AND AUTO-CENTRIC COMMUNITIES
Government support must also be pursued on zoning boards, which can either facilitate or block change. According to John Haaga of the National Institute on Aging, zoning boards have consistently demonstrated their ability to prevent neighborhoods from becoming more walkable and denser, both qualities that would benefit aging Boomers. He argued, for example, that one of the biggest obstacles to creating more livable communities is getting around current minimum lot-size requirements. For Brad Calvert, one of the central problems is that current codes make it very hard to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as granny flats.

Zoning flexibility is also essential to address the re-imagination and reorganization of auto-centric communities. The need for Boomers to drive everywhere will ultimately have a significant impact on the length of time that they are able to age in place, unless alternative models are successfully created. Some of the alternatives being explored are shared housing arrangements; resident-organized collaboratives that assist individuals with the day-to-day challenges of aging in place; and the full integration of continuing care retirement communities into their larger communities. For these efforts to work, an accommodating zoning code that allows for new and evolving building types and extensive alternative transportation options will be essential.

CODIFYING UNIVERSAL DESIGN
Jane Lynott from AARP’s Public Policy Institute also noted the vital importance of establishing a new approach to universal design. Consider how best practices in sustainability have become codified over the past decade, making them a fundamental aspect of design practice. A similar codification is necessary for best practices in universal design.

And that process has begun to an extent. Michael Morris from the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University made a presentation at the AAF Forum about the Global Universal Design Commission. As he noted, universal design is not exclusively about aging or disability but is rather an effort to create design standards that help people of all ages.

The Global Universal Design Commission is seeking to create a set of voluntary standards to complement existing guidelines and has recognized three existing buildings, including Quito International Airport in Ecuador, that have already used these standards. Morris made the case that any aging discussion must incorporate thinking on universal design because of the direct interface between age and disability. Speaking to the issue of a new vocabulary, he argued that the “universal design” label is a way to overcome the negative connotations associated with “disabilities.”

Retooling the Americans with Disabilities Act
Scott Ball, senior project manager at the design firm Duany Plater-Zybeck, asserts that the architectural community has developed a great body of knowledge about how to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) down to a “quarter of an inch.” Currently, 19 percent of all Americans have a disability, but as Boomers age this number will surely increase.

Ball believes that the ADA is “low-hanging fruit” that can be leveraged to create new standards for universal design. What is needed is to move thinking about the ADA from a “civil rights” perspective, associated with individual rights, to a broader “consumer protection” framework. The Global Universal Design Commission has taken a first step in this direction by creating design process standards to ensure that universal design is given “appropriate attention” at the community planning phase.

REDEFINING THE CONVERSATION THROUGH COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
At every turn in the conversation, the need to improve communications assets—both verbal and visual—came to the forefront. According to Jana Lynott of AARP, “It’s about the importance of social engagement and communication through the built environment; and how do you create that? The rugged individualism of the US is a hurdle.” She suggested that design professionals can show how to bridge that obstacle in interesting, “cool,” acceptable ways. In the words of Kathy Sykes, “Changing the language helps paint a picture for what could be.”

Partnerships are also essential. Laura Keyes and her colleagues at the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) have been developing lifelong communities and probably have the most extensive program now underway in the nation. The process began for ARC in 2008 with a nine-day workshop involving 1500 participants—a partnership program of ARC, the US Environmental Protection Agency, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In attendance were elected officials and other regional and local leaders from six communities representing both urban and suburban settings. The scale of focus ranged from regional planning to the design of individual homes. Design professionals from Duany Plater-Zybeck led each team through the intensive workshop with the goal of producing conceptual plans.

For its efforts, ARC has developed an extensive network of partners ranging from developers, to organizations focused on aging, to local governments, as well as the Atlanta Housing Authority. Knoll, the developer of Columbia Residential, for example, recognizes that people need increasing support as they age and wants to learn how to accommodate those requirements. In addition, the Atlanta Housing Authority has appropriated some principles from the workshop for use in high-rise buildings to activate courtyards.

COMMUNICATING DESIGN
Key to this type of collaboration are innovative, inspirational, and accessible ideas, goals, words, and images. Mattias Hollwich of HWKN argued strongly at the AAF Forum for creating a fresh arsenal of communications assets. He maintained—and others whole-heartedly agreed—that new online platforms, compelling images, and an alternative vocabulary (consider “empowerment communities” as an alternative to “retirement communities”) could help to create “a dream, a goal, a vision.”

Throughout the Forum, participants echoed the idea that members of the design community are uniquely skilled to lead this innovation in ideas and communications because they have the ability to create stories in words and images that society can relate to. And those stories are essential. As John Haaga of the National Institute on Aging explained, “new images are far more relatable than the policies and numbers that are discussed.”

NEXT STEPS
The AAF Design for Aging Forum suggested a number of compelling directions for the American Architectural Foundation’s continued leadership and engagement around this vital issue. We are evaluating those opportunities for helping local leaders prepare their cities for the coming demographic transformation. In close collaboration with our partners, we are developing a plan of action, which we will issue in the near future here on our website.

In the meantime, while we learned much from the Forum, we know that much remains to be learned. We invite you to join us in this process of discovery, understanding, and visioning. Over the coming weeks on our website, we will be profiling innovators, ideas, and projects that are revolutionizing how communities are designed in response to the aging American population. For more information and to get involved, explore the Design for Aging content on our website, and follow us on Twitter @AAFdesign.

Click on the colored tags to view Where in the US are the AAF Staff? – April Edition 

The American Architectural Foundation Staff will be hitting the road during the month of April and attending several exciting programs and site visits. We are looking forward to meeting and working with many talented city leaders, design experts and project team leads. Here’s more information about where we will be >>

• Sustainable Cities Design Academy (SCDA) is producing their 8th event and teams from Brooklyn, Fresno, Macon and New Haven will be meeting in San Francisco on April 11-13, 2012.

• The Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) will be hosting their 53rd meeting in St. Louis on April 25-27, 2012. The participating cities are Oakland, Savannah, South Bend, University City and Westfield.

• Chicago visit for New Classrooms program

• Site visit to Savannah, GA

• Site visit to Miami, FL.

• Site visit to Ponce, P.R.

• Design for Aging tweet-up from AAF HQ in Washington, DC on April 24th #DesignReady

• Site visit to Westland, MI

• Site visit to South Bend, IN

• Attending the American Planning Association Convention in Los Angeles, CA

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The American Architectural Foundation is thrilled to be producing our 8th Sustainable Cities Design Academy. The event is taking place April 11 – 13, 2012 in the City of San Francisco.

As we gear up for next week’s event, we want to share some background on this AAF program. The Sustainable Cities Design Academy provides technical assistance to community leaders who are planning sustainable building projects in their communities. City leaders from diverse disciplines and professions (including mayors, city managers, transit planners, economic development authorities, and non-profit executives) bring specific design issues to the sessions, and they work collaboratively with resource teams of design professionals as well as other experts (e.g., real estate developers, educators, and other community stakeholders) who help them to consider new, innovative options and solutions.

SCDA charrettes use the design process to guide the discussion around challenges and opportunities for each community project, effectively analyzing the specifics of a particular design challenge in order to identify appropriate solutions. The intensive collaboration builds the community’s sustainable planning capacity through rigorous design sessions that inform not only the project at hand, but future projects and policies as well.

Prior to conducting the charrette, AAF staff visit participating cities to gather information, initiate relationships with the participants, and discuss the projects to be presented at the charrette. Three to four project teams participate in each session, with each team composed of four key project influencers and 10-12 design experts. AAF draws from a wide network of contacts to consistently bring the right people around the table.

We have the pleasure of encouraging conversation with Project leaders and Design experts in the following cities – Brooklyn, Fresno, Macon, and New Haven.  Below, please find more detailed information about our talented participants and their selected city projects that will be the focus of their conversations.

We will also be tweeting moments from the event. You can find @AAFDesign,@RonBogle and @EBlazevich using #SCDASF

Project Team Members:

Beatriz de la Torre, Assistant Commissioner
New York City Department of Housing
Preservation and Development

Rosanne Haggerty, President
Community Solutions

Fred Harris, Executive Vice President for Development
New York City Housing Authority, Department of Development

Michael Singer, Principal
Michael Singer Studios

Design Experts:

Faith Okuma, RLA, AICP, LEED AP, Principal
Surroundings Studio, LLC

Casius Pealer, Principal
Oystertree Consulting, L3C

Katherine Williams, RA, LEED AP, Project Manager
San Francisco Housing Development Corporation

Project Overview: The Brooklyn project team is developing a new and urgently needed approach to the preservation and revitalization of publicly-assisted housing in New York City. The team hopes to create a prototype to redesign and “green” housing structures in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The team believes that they can help to develop a retrofi t model for existing housing as well as for tenant involvement in this process.

Project Team Leaders:

Brian Angus, Executive Director
Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission

Elliott Balch, Downtown Revitalization Manager
City of Fresno

David Cisneros, Manager of Special Projects
City of Fresno Public Works Department

Sevak Khatchadourian, CEO
Beverly Hills International

Design Experts:

Leila Aman, Senior Development Project Manager
Metro

Susan Rogers, Director of Community Design Resource Center and Assistant Professor
University of Houston, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture

Clark Wilson, Senior Urban Designer
U.S. EPA – Office of Sustainable Communities

Project Overview: The City of Fresno is the cultural and economic center of California’s San Joaquin Valley, and home to over 500,000 residents. Fresno has the fi ft h highest concentration of poverty in the nation, and Downtown Fresno faces several challenges, including private disinvestment, underperforming commerce, high vacancy rates, and diminished city funding for maintenance. However, Fresno is also poised to capitalize on several timely and unique opportunities including Mayor Swearengin’s prioritization of the revitalization of Fulton Mall, a pedestrian mall designed by famed architect Victor Gruen and landscape architect Garrett Eckbo completed in 1964, a future highspeed rail station to connect Fresno to Los Angeles and San Francisco, Fresno’s designation as a White House Strong Cities, Strong Communities program recipient, and several City-driven planning processes underway, including a General Plan update, the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan, and the Fulton Corridor Specifi c Plan.

Project Team Leaders:

Mike Ford, President and CEO
NewTown Macon

Daniel Foth, Vice President, Rail & Transit
CHA Consulting, Inc.

Gil Prado, AICP, Assistant Director of Economic and Community
Development City of Macon

Jim Thomas, Executive Director
Macon-Bibb Planning and Zoning Commission and Metropolitan Planning Organization

Design Experts:

Craig Churchward, ASLA, Transportation Landscape Architect
LHB Corporation

Ruth Todd, FAIA, AICP, LEED AP, Principal
Page & Turnbull

Laura Weiss, Principal
Laura Weiss Business + Design

Project Overview: Founded in 1823 on the banks of the Ocmulgee River, the City of Macon was envisioned to be “a city within a park” with a grid design of wide boulevards alternating with narrow streets and parks. Early in the City of Macon, leaders understood the importance of the Ocmulgee River and Macon’s role as a transportation and commercial hub. Today, Macon, like many cities across the nation, has experienced a shift away from the traditional urban core to suburban scattered growth. The City of Macon desires to redevelop Second Street into a sustainable, green, multi-modal complete street that expands transportation options to residents and visitors of Downtown Macon. This complete street system could provide needed transportation and related infrastructure to connect people with jobs, entertainment and civic destinations, educational institutions and eventually expand the system to serve the region and include green infrastructure to manage storm water, integrate shade street trees and pocket parks to increase pedestrian comfort, minimize impervious surfaces and calm traffic. The Second Street project is an important catalyst project to connect residents and visitors to Middle Georgia’s assets and generates viable opportunities for continued public and private investments.

Project Team Leaders:

Kevin Hively, Principal
Ninigret Partners

Kelly Murphy, AICP, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development
City of New Haven

Pedro Soto, Assistant General Manager
Space-Craft Manufacturing Inc.

Design Experts:

Phil Erickson, AIA, Founding Principal
Community Design + Architecture

Eric Zickler, Senior Associate
AECOM Design and Planning

Project Overview: Mill River District is an urban, light industrial, 206 acre district located at the heart of New Haven, Connecticut that contains many successful and diverse businesses attracted by the district’s low rents and strategic regional location. However, Mill River also contains many neglected and underutilized parcels with significant environmental challenges related to past industrial uses as well as its location along the Connecticut shore.

In order to address challenges and build off the area’s native advantages, the Economic Development Corporation of New Haven (EDC), and the City of New Haven Department of Economic Development have entered a public-private partnership with the existing Mill River businesses to create a development plan that will maintain the City’s industrial base, establish the district’s distinct identity, attract new businesses, and address sustainability challenges at the local and regional level. In particular, this project is an opportunity to shift regional development patterns away from the suburban, big-box model toward a sustainable, urban model that takes advantage New Haven’s population and workforce density as well as its regional connectivity.

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