Urbanism Workshop: Meet our Out of Town Guests

We are pleased to announce our talented guests joining us for the Urbanism Workshop next week. Chattanooga is lucky to have these talented individuals in our fine city for a few days.We hope you enjoy reading about them below and get to meet them at the Design Showcase.

Maurice Cox, a nationally respected community designer and leader of the public interest design movement, serves as associate dean for community engagement at the Tulane University School of Architecture in New Orleans. A co-founder of the national SEED (Social, Economic, Environmental, Design) Network, Cox served as design director of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC from 2007-2010. Cox has received national acclaim for his ability to incorporate active citizen participation into the design process while achieving the highest quality of design excellence, leading Fast Company business magazine to name him one of America’s “20 Masters of Design” for his practice of “democratic design”.

Mike Lydon is a Principal of The Street Plans Collaborative. As an internationally recognized planner, writer, and advocate for livable cities, his work has been featured by NPR, The New York Times, CNN Headline News, The Atlantic Cities, Planetizen, Grist, Salon, Next City, Architect Magazine, and Streetsblog, among other publications. Along with Tony Garcia, Mike is the author of Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change, which grew from the globally acclaimed Tactical Urbanism Volume 1- 4 series. Mike is also the creator and primary author of the The Open Streets Project, and with author Julie Flynn the editor and co-creator of Mercado: Lessons from 20 Markets across South America. Mike collaborated with Andres Duany and Jeff Speck in writing The Smart Growth Manual, published by McGraw-Hill in 2009 and honored by Planetizen as one of the top ten planning books of 2010.

Mallory Baches, Founder and Director of The Civic Hub, is an urban designer and civic specialist certified by the AICP, LEED, and CNU. She collects favorite towns and neighborhoods the way most people collect rare coins or baseball cards, and she believes that everyday citizens can inspire great community change. Mallory reinforces her commitment to civil society through her role in industry innovation leadership, her contributions to her local community, and her writing and speaking on related subjects.

Mike Watkins is the founder and principal of Michael Watkins Architect, LLC, an architecture and town planning firm. The firm’s work includes the preparation of master plans for neighborhoods, hamlets and town extensions, preparation of design guidelines, various town architect services for TNDs, and leading and participating in urban design charrettes. Mike is also a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, the American Institute of Architects, the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, the New Urban Guild and the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Hunter Franks creates public installations that create shared spaces and experiences that break down social barriers and catalyze connections between people and communities. Projects include a storytelling exchange to connect disparate neighborhoods, a public display of first love stories, a vacant warehouse turned community hub, and a global network of people creatively building stronger cities. His Neighborhood Postcard Project has been carried out in 20 communities from Chennai, India to Santiago, Chile and his League of Creative Interventionists has chapters in eight cities around the world from Cologne, Germany to Detroit, Michigan.

Ceara O’Leary joined the Detroit Collaborative Design Center in January 2012 as an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow. Ceara has also worked as a Community Designer with Dallas-based bcWORKSHOP. From 2010-2011, Ceara was the inaugural Public Design Intern at the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she worked on community design and development projects such as streetscape planning, stormwater gardens, bike routes, homestead restoration, educational outreach and elevated single-family home design.

Kristen E. Jeffers is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Black Urbanist, a project of Kristen Jeffers Media. She has presented at the annual Congress for New Urbanism on civic pride, cultural diversity, and the power of grassroots in communities. In addition, she participated on a panel at the 2012 UNC Global American South conference on the reverse migration of African Americans. She is a Streetsblog Network member and featured contributor to Sustainable Cities Collective.

Gary Gaston is the Design Director of the Nashville Civic Design Center and a Lecturer with the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design. He was a principal contributor to the Center’s book The Plan of Nashville: Avenues to a Great City, and is currently working on Shaping Healthy Communities, which will be published in 2015. Gary served as the project director and executive producer of the documentary film Design Your Neighborhood, which was funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was shown at the Nashville Film Festival in April 2012.

Abby Wheeler is originally from Charlottesville, Virginia but now calls Nashville home. Abby joined the Nashville Civic Design Center as a research fellow in August of 2014 following her graduation from Vanderbilt University in May of the same year. At Vanderbilt, she earned a bachelor of science in Human and Organizational Development with a concentration in Community Leadership and Development.

Lauren Lowery, A graduate of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies of the Georgia State University, Lauren has has over nine years of experience in community economic development and neighborhood development.  Lauren has worked for Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte (Charlotte,VA), Historic District Development Corporation (Atlanta, GA), Department of Economic & Community Development (Chattanooga, TN), Office of Budget & Strategic Planning (Norfolk, VA), and Department of Neighborhood Development (Norfolk, VA). In the last nine years, Lauren has coordinated and managed projects dealing with community engagement, neighborhood leadership development, affordable housing, rental housing, abandoned properties, healthy neighborhoods, and derelict structures.

Will Dowdy is an urban designer for the city of Eugene, Oregon.  With a background in urbanism, architecture and form-based codes, his work involves an integrated approach to problem solving with an emphasis on community, financial viability and long-term sustainability.  Prior to moving to Eugene, Will worked on a wide variety of projects including Chattanooga’s St. Elmo neighborhood, an award-winning masterplan in rural Ohio, infill in an industrial neighborhood in Salt Lake City, and a toolkit of multi-family housing prototypes.

Keif Schleifer is principal of KSDesign, a creative practice that provides technical and architectural designs/solutions and solves logistical challenges associated with the installation and maintenance of art in public spaces.  KSDesign also facilitates community empowerment opportunities through master-planning, asset utilization strategies and direct engagement. Projects engender capacity-building and community self-determination, and cultivate visibility, pride, and quality of life. Keif is a collaborator with WE ARE ALL COLLAGE, an architecture, planning, consulting and research firm based in Portland/OR and Brooklyn/NY.  Keif works stateside and abroad with artists from around the world on public works of art ranging from murals, sculpture, dance, music, multi-media, videography/photography, performance and installation art. Keif currently teaches “Dynamics of Art in the Public Realm” as an Art Department Visiting Artist/Scholar in Residency at Georgia College & State University.

Adrian Lipscombe is an innovator that concentrates on community involvement through engagement acts such as green architecture, active transportation and sustainable food production. She is currently the Bicycle Coordinator of the City of Austin and placed the successful bike share system there. She is currently working toward completing her Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the perception of minorities on transportation.

Charles “Chooch” Pickard, architect and urban designer, is the Executive Architect for City South Ventures in Memphis, TN. Chooch has also contributed to the preservation and revitalization of this city on projects such as the historic preservation of the Lincoln American Tower and Lowenstein Building, and the New Face for an Old Broad project that helped turn Broad Avenue into the vibrant neighborhood it is today. He was instrumental in forming a partnership between MATA and other neighborhood advocates to provide a retired bus to be converted into a rolling food market serving disenfranchised neighborhoods located in food deserts. Chooch is currently running for City Council in Memphis.

Elizabeth Williams- J. Elizabeth Williams of Nashville,TN by way of the mysterious, upper, east TN, greater Appalachian mountains, spends many of her days at the Isle of Printing helping solve problems and create public, fine art projects happen in Nashville, TN. On the other days of the week, she practices the art of being honest through traditional fine art projects such as painting and flag making. She can also be found hustling, participating in graphic design projects for monetary gain; all of which amounts to a life she hopes to live out honorably with connection through visual art. Applicable project linkage to Isle of Printing projects: Our Town Nashville,  Pie Town (our neighborhood mural art), Pinewood Social Can Wall.

Fuller Haan- Fuller is an Intern Architect with Smith Gee Studio in Nashville, TN. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Auburn University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture where she participated in the Rural Studio and studied abroad in Ecuador. She completed her thesis at the Urban Studio studying and working with two distinct Alabama communities utilizing an assets-based approach to community and neighborhood revitalization to develop both short and long-range plans for preservation, growth and an overall improved quality of life.