Project Location: Madison, Wisconsin

Client: BT Farms Foundation Inc

Project Team: Design / Planning Team: Jima Studio (Landscape Planning), Burse Engineering (Civil), Stephen Glass & Mrill Ingram (The Restoration Ecology Lab-Restoration Ecologist), ARG Design (Regenerative Planning Strategy), KI Strategies (Climate Resilience & Community Engagement), Farmer D (Agriculture Planning)

CUA Team: Kami Beckford (graphic illustration ), Marcus Wilford  (massing studies )

Size: 235 acres

Date: 2022 - 2024

Studio Role: Prime Consultant: Programming, Design Guidelines, Form Based Codes, Community Engagement Strategy

About:

BT Farms is developing a regenerative community plan for approximately 230 acres of farmland in Madison, Wisconsin. Inspired by emerging trends of cooperative urban farming, this intentional community will center equity, justice and intergenerational wealth building and support Black and Indigenous communities to thrive, as foundational principles.

The community vision plan includes:

• Restoration of approx 100 acres of existing wetlands and natural hydrological systems

• Integration of approx 50 acres of farmland with land conservation areas

• A 10 acre network of parks and open spaces

• 404 units of diverse forms of mixed income, sustainable and affordable housing (supportive, cooperative, single and multifamily),

• Approximately 5 acres of space for training and educational development

• Approximately 5 acres of space for amenities to support a rich entrepreneurial and quality living environment.

Check out these articles in the Wisconsin State Journal on the project and team!

One-of-a-kind 'agri-hood' would blend housing, farming and racial justice on Far East Side of Madison

Meet the team that wants to bring an agri-community to Madison

New BT Farms agri-community project on Madison’s East Side will support local agriculture and healthy communities

Link to drone footage of the site

Project Location: New Jersey

Client: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Partners: Agency Landscape + Planning; NV5; Hive Public Space

CUA Team: Jeana Fletcher (graphic illustration )

Date: 2023 - 2024

Role: Equitable Design + Planning consulting: engagement strategy, cultural equity and regenerative design/planning strategy

About:

The Greenway is a nine-mile corridor that connects eight municipalities. The NJDEP is conducting a planning process to understand how the Greenway can effectively support the diverse communities that surround it.

Creative Urban Alchemy joined a multidisciplinary team to facilitate engagement, co-develop a phased recommendations plan for the development of stormwater management infrastructure and Design Plan of the New Jersey Greenway. The work will result in a planning document that will serve as a guide for future planning and will include the options for and prioritization of high-impact projects. It will illustrate how community input was used to develop and shape the greenway’s ideas and priorities.

Project Location: Annapolis, Maryland

Client: City of Annapolis

Date: 2024 - 2025

Partners: McAdams, SCAPE, MBP, Underwood and Associates, Synergy Solutions

CUA Team: Remy Chong (community designer ), Violet Greenberg (community designer )

Role: Public Art, Arts & Culture Planning, Urban Design

About:

The City of Annapolis, in partnership with the Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, has selected McAdams and SCAPE to create a Master Plan for Carr’s Elktonia Heritage Park. They will lead a team that includes MBP, Creative Urban Alchemy, Underwood and Associates and Synergy Solutions.

Under the Master Plan, the five-acre site will become a new park designed to acknowledge and celebrate Chesapeake Bay’s historic Black beaches. The work will involve landscape design as well as shoreline restoration to protect the new park and its beach from the impacts of climate change.

Project Location: Kintele, Brazzaville; Congo

Site: 75 hectares (185 acres)

Client: MMS DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD

Partner: Nisa Mammon Associates

Date: 2012

Role: Design /Planning Consultant: Developed conceptual housing designs, supported conceptual plan development

About:

Kintele is a new agriculture-based town 25 km outside of Brazzavile in the Congo. This new 2000-unit community development plan included a percentage of emergency housing for victims of an arms explosion. The design of the site is driven by an analysis of the site’s natural slope and drainage features. Greenways are incorporated as a non-invasive stormwater management strategy and complimented by a road network that works in tandem to slow the movement of water during heavy rain periods. Housing development is supported by urban corridors as the main arteries of the settlement in addition to ample green land for agricultural use. The diversity of housing options includes market rate homes and an incremental housing strategy for the low-income population.

Collaborated with a team of designers to develop the spatial development plan and urban design strategies. Co-managed the production of the final presentation drawings and creation of the urban development framework. Independently explored diverse housing design studies.

a project of NM & Associates

Project Location: NYC Citywide - 15 public housing developments

Cost: $1M

Partners: New York City Housing Authority, Center for Court Innovation, Residents of NYCHA, Mayors Office of Criminal Justice

Date: 2017-2020

Role: Director of Design Initiatives at the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice

About:

Developed and facilitated the citywide participatory planning and design program - Safe Places, Active Spaces Initiative - A data driven, community engaged design and placemaking initiative that brought together stakeholder teams of residents, CBOs and government agencies to co-create strategies involving design and space programming to address public safety in open space in and around 15 NYC public housing developments as a part of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (M.A.P).

Each placemaking project sought to discover the inherent potential of residents and their open spaces and then explored how that potential could add value to community safety. From the creation of murals to community gardens to resource hubs each intervention strived to realize the dynamic energy and unique talents in the community.

Spearheaded the inter-agency research-based process to create the Safe Places, Active Spaces Community Playbook. A resource for residents in understanding the processes and policies for transforming public open space. Created in collaboration with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, Department of Transportation and Housing Authority.

a project of the NYC Mayors Office of Criminal Justice

Image Credits:

Images courtesy of the NYC Mayors Office of Criminal Justice, Center for Court Innovation and John Jay Research and Evaluation Center

Project Location: Union City, Georgia

Client: Union City Mayors Office / Mayors’ Institute on City Design

Partners: Design/Planning Team: Brie Hensold (Agency Landscape + Planning) ; James G. Stockard, Jr (Housing Development)

Date: 2021

Role: Design / Urban Strategist

About:

As a part of their Alumni Technical Assistance program The Mayors’ Institute on City Design connected our team of city design experts with leadership at the Mayors’ Office of Union City to advance projects striving for greater equity, opportunity, safety, and well-being for Union City.

Raymond Drive in Union City, a growing Latin X community just southwest of Atlanta, is experiencing challenges and issues of community safety, trust in government, health inequity and affordable housing. The work aimed at reclaiming, renewing, and reimagining Raymond Drive and Raymond Terrace as an active, safe, and welcoming neighborhood. Strategies featured included alternative uses of utility easements, placemaking opportunities in the public realm, options for increasing home ownership and the creation of community engagement forums.

Check out the final report here

Article in Next City Online Publication: “here”

Project Location: Los Angles, California

Client: City of Los Angeles Mayors Office

Design Team: Lindsey Wikstrom, Ujiji Davis, Galen Pardee, Mustafa Hasan Khan, Angela Sun

Date: 2020

Role: Design Strategist: Developed concept narrative, design approach and housing design strategies

About:

Community Health + Engagement

Our approach is a durable neighborhood strategy that includes a network of 50 units across multiple sites, each with a two story fourplex, community storefront and onsite parking for both, to maximize the economies of scale and knit the community together. This approach addresses health equity by providing for the needs expressed in the listening sessions – spaces for youth engagement, food security, childcare, education, and entrepreneurship within a 15 minute walk.

We envision a cooperative model facilitated by a community land trust to target issues of displacement, community safety and lack of collective ownership. The community storefront in each fourplex provides a common space for services and small business growth. Feedback through a digital interface can link the CLT and residents more readily, allowing for continuous resident participation in decision-making towards thoughtful future programming strategies.

Low Rise LA Design Competition Website

Link to FULL proposal

Project Location: Cape Town Waterfront, South Africa

Size: 26 acres

Value: R1 billion (~$56M)

Client: Provincial Government of Western Cape

Date: 2013 - 2015

Role: Project Lead / Designer at ARG Design: Developed framework report, design guidelines, managed project consulting team

About:

The Somerset Hospital Precinct is a 26 acre site and currently home to the Somerset Hospital and considered to be one of the most valuable publicly-owned land parcels in the metropolitan region due to its proximity to the V&A Waterfront, Green Point Common, Cape Town Stadium and Cape Town City Centre. This 2014 Urban Design Framework provided the spatial and infrastructure foundation for the future development of the Somerset Hospital Precinct to reach its full potential.

The impetus for this project was to create a vision for the place that encourages healthy living, includes the needs of a diverse population, incorporates a variety of uses and forms, features quality public spaces, contributes to the heritage and legacy of Cape Town, connects to the surrounding environment and strives for design excellence.

The objectives of the proposed development of the Somerset Hospital precinct are to:

1] Optimize the development opportunity afforded by location, transport and surrounding investments

2] Regenerate the Precinct from being secluded and inaccessible to an open, public, nurturing place

3] Maintain and celebrate the health and other heritage values and features of the Precinct

4] Create a high quality inclusive environment for work, living and recreation through private investment

5] Ensure the minimum environmental footprint for the development

6] Provide a new Community Day Clinic and rehabilitate and maintain key Heritage Buildings

7] Generate a financial income for the Provincial Asset Maintenance Fund

Key features of the development framework included:

A 9 acre new hospital in Precinct 3, next to the old Green Point racetrack.

Re-use of heritage buildings for different purposes, than was originally envisaged.

Precincts 1, 2 and a portion of Precinct 3 to be made available for mixed-use development including:

• ~323k sf of office space

• ~230k sf of retail space

• ~1.5m sf of residential space

a project of ARG Design

Project Location: Jacksonville, Florida

Client: Jessie Ball duPont Fund; City of Jacksonville

Size: 75 acres of publicly-owned downtown riverfront land

Cost: $100M (proposed implementation budget)

Partners: DVDL; WXY Architecture + Urban Design; JLP +D; Groundwork Jacksonville; Riverfront Parks Now

Date: 2021

Role: Community Engaged Design / Public Space Activation Strategist

About:

Collaborated with a notable team exploring the future potential of the Jacksonville Downtown Riverfront as an inclusive place where every resident feels they belong. The Activation Plan is focused on bringing people and energy to the Downtown Riverfront and providing opportunities for diverse groups from around the city. The Plan offers a framework for activities, programs and experiences, design interventions to enhance the Riverfront experience, activate underutilized spaces, and, most importantly, provide the facilities needed to program spaces along the Riverwalk on a daily basis.

Supported the local community engagement partner to create and implement public space activation and participatory design strategies as a part of the community engagement process.

View Full Report

Project Location: New York, NY

Client: New Yorker Magazine

Partners:

Claire Weisz and David Vega-Barachowitz, WXY

Jonathan Marvel, Guido Hartray, Yadiel Rivera-Díaz, and Chit Yee Ng, Marvel

Janette Sadik-Khan, Bloomberg Associates

Brandt Knapp and Jerome Haferd, Brandt : Haferd

Victor Body-Lawson, BLA Architects & Planners

Peter Slatin, Slatin Group

Photograph and rendering by Nightnurse Images Inc.

Date: 2021

Role: Urban Strategist

About:

Collaborated with a notable team of designers and strategists on crafting an achievable, replicable, and speculative plan for a city that’s embracing public space as never before. This streetscape plan was integrated into an article in New Yorker Magazine written by Justin Davidson.

See full article on Perfecting the New York Street

Project Location: New York City (citywide)

Client: Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice; NYC Economic Development Corporation

Partners: WXY, Buro Happold, Hester Street, Lion Advisors, U-Hope Consulting, Lida Aljabar (KI Strategies)

Date: 2022 - Present

Role: EJ Study Community Engagement Consulting, EJ Study Report Development, Environmental Justice Plan Advisor

About:

The City of New York has embarked on an effort to comprehensively study environmental justice in the five boroughs. The study aims to better understand how and where people face disproportionate exposure to environmental burdens and climate risks, and how the City has alleviated or worsened these burdens and disparities. This assessment will set the foundation for a future Environmental Justice Plan that integrates environmental justice into City decision-making and identifies new City environmental justice initiatives.

More information on the EJNYC Study

More information and to download the Environmental Justice Report

Project Location: Macassar, Western Cape, South Africa

Size: 30 acres

Budget: R28 M ($1.8M)

Client: City of Cape Town Department of Human Settlements; Residents of the Deep Freeze Community

Project Partners: WSP (Civil Engineering), Adrian Geech (Land Surveyor)

Date: 2013-2015 (Planning)

Role: Project Designer/Planner at ARG Design: Developed spatial framework report, led community engagement with client, developed conceptual plan (with landscape architect and civil engineer) and managed consulting team

About:

After a long history of apartheid, and its resulting impact on the social and spatial environment, the City of Cape Town strived to use design and planning as tools for equity. This Community Design Plan provided the spatial and infrastructure foundation for the future development of the Deep Freeze Community to reach its full potential.

The Deep Freeze settlement is located within the southeastern part of the City of Cape Town Metro between the township of Khayelitsha to the west and Somerset West to the south-east. The 12 ha (30 acres) site is occupied by 171 households residing on the site. The original accommodation on the property was army barracks erected during World War II, which were later converted into housing units to accommodate the employees of the adjacent Deep Freeze / Donald Cook and Delmont Factories. This Design Framework is in line with the City’s commitment to bringing greater formality to informal settlements, to mainstream basic services and to improve the lives of its most vulnerable residents amid rapid urbanization.

The Framework provided a point of compromise and agreement between the residents of Deep Freeze and the City of Cape Town. The community masterplan includes the provision of 440 serviced sites for social housing.

The objectives of the proposed Deep Freeze community design plan were to:

1] Improve spatial integration of poor and low-income households for better access to socio-economic opportunities.

2] Encourage sustainable development in the area by striking an appropriate balance between socio-economic, neighborhood development and environmental protection needs

3] Improve spatial densities by providing household access to public amenities and socio-economic services

4] Encourage development which acts as a catalyst for broader improvement of the urban and natural environment and the upliftment of communities in close proximity to the site.

Article on progress of Project

a project of ARG Design

Project Location: Indiana Avenue , Indianapolis, Indiana

Client: Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD)

Date: 2023 - 2024

Partners: Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architect (EKLA), WXY Architecture + Urban Design, Candace Jackson Arts Management, Rhodes Heritage Group, Indy Equity Collaborative, Indiana Strategic Resource Group

Role: Racial Equity Planning, Urban Design Strategy

About:

DMD selected our consultant team to facilitate and create an equitable re-development plan for Indiana Avenue in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Such a plan reflects DMD and the community partners desire to highlight Indiana Avenue’s history as a thriving mixed-use African American commercial and cultural district and align it with future development along the corridor. This effort coincides with the DMD’s Cultural Equity Plan effort that will, among other goals, incorporate culture, history, and equity into its decisions, processes, and programs. The plan will accomplish its goals using a people-centered and equitable approach.