Thomas Woltz

“Landscape, Memory, and Truth: Unlocking Histories Hidden in The Land”

in partnership with Trust for Public Land

Thursday, November 21, 2024 | @ Chattanooga Public Library

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Thomas Woltz, FASLA, CLARB is the Senior Principal and Owner, of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects.

Over the past two decades of practice, Thomas and his team have infused narratives of the land into the places where people live, work, and play, engendering stewardship and inspiring connections between people and the natural world.

Woltz was educated at the University of Virginia and holds master’s degrees in landscape architecture and architecture. He also holds an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the State University of New York, Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. He was recognized with the Land for People Award by the Trust for Public Land in 2019 and as one of the most creative people in business by Fast Company in 2017. Woltz currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Cultural Landscape Foundation and the University of Virginia School of Architecture Foundation.

At present, Thomas is leading NBW in the design of significant public landscapes across the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, including the John and Alice Coltrane Home in New York, Holden Forest & Arboretum in Cleveland, Cornwall Park in Auckland, and Memorial Park in Houston.

Learn more about Thomas Woltz and his work.

Alan Mallach

“Growth for Whom? [Inequity and Urban Change]”

Thursday, September 26, 2024 | @ Chattanooga Public Library

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Alan Mallach is a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Community Progress, in Washington, D.C.

Mallach is a city planner, advocate, and writer, nationally known for his work on housing, economic development, and urban revitalization. He has worked with local governments and community organizations across the country to develop creative policies and strategies to revitalize cities and neighborhoods.

A former director of housing & economic development in Trenton, New Jersey, Mallach has worked at the Brookings Institution and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and has spoken on housing and urban issues in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Japan. He is the author of many books, some of which have been translated into Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.

Mallach is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners and holds a BA from Yale University.

As American cities have revived, their revival has been uneven, polarized between poverty and prosperity. As Chattanooga grows, it faces unprecedented challenges if it is to escape uneven revival and spread the benefits of its growth equitably. Mr. Mallach will lay out this picture nationally and locally and suggest ways Chattanooga can foster greater equity as it grows. Copies of two of his books on housing, planning, and cities, The Divided City and Smaller Cities in a Shrinking World will be available for purchase with a signing to follow.

ERIC KRONBERG

“Housing First, Incremental Strategies and Tools”

Thursday, May 23, 2024 | @ Chattanooga Public Library

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Eric Kronberg is a zoning whisperer. He specializes in balancing and blending the often competing needs of urban design, architecture, and development in a potent cocktail for better places. Eric specializes in breaking down and demystifying regulations to find ways to make great projects possible while helping others navigate the redevelopment maze. He uses his skills for the force of good as a principal at Kronberg Urbanists + Architects (KUA), leading the firm’s skilled practitioners to help their development partners create better places for all. His work with KUA, the Incremental Development Alliance, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the Georgia Conservancy, and the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition has solidified his stance as an advocate for walkable communities.

Through his work in Chattanooga, Eric Kronberg offers a unique perspective to the CIVIQ series:

While homelessness is a complex issue, it is, at its core, a housing problem. Kronberg Urbanists + Architects, Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, and Lyndhurst Foundation have partnered to prepare a housing first toolkit to address the lack of attainable housing throughout Chattanooga. The toolkit provides housing prototypes that can fit seamlessly into existing neighborhoods. An incremental approach of attainable housing allows infill at a manageable and discrete scale, while also avoiding concentrations of poverty.

Gil Penalosa

“8 80 Cities, For Everyone”

Thursday, February 22, 2024 | @ Chattanooga Public Library

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Gil Penalosa is passionate about cities for all people. He advises decision makers and communities worldwide on how to create vibrant cities and healthy communities for all, regardless of age, gender, ability and social, economic, or ethnic background. His focus is on the design and use of parks and streets as great public places, as well as the promotion of sustainable mobility: walking, riding bicycles, using public transit, and new use of cars. Gil has worked in over 350 different cities across all continents.

Gil is the Founder and Chair of the Canadian non-profit organization 8 80 Cities. In addition, Gil is founder of Cities for Everyone and leads the international consulting firm, Gil Penalosa & Associates. In 2022 Gil ran for mayor of Toronto. In 100 days, he got 100,000 votes, and changed the conversation, which was his objective. His focus was on how to create an affordable, equitable, and sustainable city, a Toronto for Everyone.

Throughout his career, Gil has been a strong advocate for improving city parks, making his first mark in Bogotá, Colombia, where he led the design and construction of over 200 parks - including Simon Bolivar, a 113-hectare park in the heart of the city. His team also radically transformed the Ciclovía / Open Streets – from a program of few kilometers to one that sees over a million people walk, run, skate and bike along 121 kilometers of Bogotá’s city roads every Sunday of the year, and today is internationally recognized and emulated.

Gil was elected twice as chair of World Urban Parks and was its first ambassador. He holds an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where he was selected as one of the “100 Most Inspirational Alumni” in the school’s history. Gil received a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Faculty of Urban Planning at the prominent Swedish university, SLU. He was named one of Planetizen’s Top 50 Most Influential Urbanists, and received the World Urban Parks Annual Distinguished Individual Award.

Chandra Christmas - Rouse

“Designing Disruption: What if we did fix it?”

Thursday, November 2, 2023 | @ The Camp House

5:30 pm-7:00 pm

Chandra Christmas-Rouse is an urban planner, advocate and artist based in Chicago, IL. A background in community development and environmental justice informs her design approach of working with community stakeholders in a participatory process to support capacity building, achieve place-based solutions, and reimagine systems. Chandra currently serves as a Senior Manager at Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC). At MPC, she developed and leads the Change Lab initiative which equips advocates, the public sector, and private entities with the knowledge, skills and tools to affect structural change and to institutionalize equity. She also directs MPC’s housing policy work and supports land use & planning and equitable transit-oriented development (eTOD) programs by advancing research, policy advocacy, and outreach efforts.

Prior to joining MPC, Chandra developed program, policy, and capital initiatives with local partners that focus on environmental resilience, eTOD, and healing-centered engagement at Enterprise Community Partners. While at Enterprise, she worked with the City of Chicago's Department of Housing to lead the country's first Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) of rental housing developments which are supported by Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Her past experiences include integrating policy and strategy consulting with technical knowledge to advance economic mobility and sustainability for a number of organizations and firms including the United Nations and Jacobs Engineering Group. Chandra is also the author of a graphic novel entitled Where the Sidewalk Grows and creator of the Maplibs Project. She holds a BA in Environmental Sciences & Policy with distinction from Duke University and a Master of Urban Planning from Harvard University.

Jeff Speck, FAICP, FCNU, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA

“Toward a MORE WALKABLE CHATTANOOGA”

Thursday, September 28, 2023 | @ Common House

Jeff Speck is a city planner and author who advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, he presided over the Mayors' Institute on City Design and created the Governors' Institute on Community Design. Prior to his federal appointment, Mr. Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at DPZ & Co., the principal firm behind the New Urbanism movement. Since 2007, he has led Speck & Associates, an award-winning private design consultancy serving mainly American cities.

With Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Mr. Speck is the co-author of Suburban Nation, which the Wall Street Journal calls "the urbanist's bible.” His 2012 book Walkable City was the best selling city-planning title of the past decade and has been translated into eight languages. He is also the principal author of The Smart Growth Manual and Walkable City Rules.

Jeff Speck has been named a fellow of both the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Congress for New Urbanism. He was the 2022 recipient of the Seaside Prize, whose former awardees include Jane Jacobs and Christopher Alexander. His TED talks and YouTube videos have been viewed more than six million times.

James F. Lima

“The Economics of Placemaking”

Thursday, May 4, 2023 | @ The Camp House

James Lima has extensive experience in the planning and implementation of urban revitalization projects throughout North America. His real estate and economic advisory firm, James Lima Planning + Development, helps public and private sector clients create more vibrant, equitable, and resilient places. JLP+D provides planning, policy, real estate, and economic advisory services for downtown and waterfront revitalization, institutional real estate value creation, great placemaking, and shaping impactful public policy. 

James is working on a broad range of urban regeneration initiatives — from planning and implementation of downtown district growth strategies to cultural arts facilities development, resiliency investments, adaptive reuse of historic properties, and increasing access to economic opportunity and affordable housing. Previously, James served as a NYC affordable housing and economic development official and later was appointed by then-NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg as founding President of the public corporation overseeing the redevelopment and operations of historic Governors Island in New York Harbor.

BERNICE RADLE

“SMALL SCALE DEVELOPMENT MATTERS NOW MORE THAN EVER: LESSONS FROM BUFFALO AND BEYOND”

Thursday, February 16, 2023 | @ The Camp House

Bernice Radle owns Buffalove Development and Little Wheel Restoration Company, a full-service real estate firm focused on reviving vacant and underutilized places and spaces in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Her goal is to combine urban design, preservation, energy efficiency, and affordability to make neighborhoods better for people to live, work, and play. Her woman-owned and minority-focused companies aim for a more inclusivity for females and minorities in the real estate and construction industries.Bernice was an active volunteer throughout the adoption of the Buffalo Green Code and active on the Zoning Board throughout the Code transition in 2017. Bernice is a Senior Faculty member of the Incremental Development Alliance where she works with cities across America to do zoning stress tests and train their communities on how to do small-scale real estate development. In 2021, she was selected to serve on the Form Based Codes Institute Driehaus Awards Committee and in 2022 became an appointed to the FBCI steering committee. Bernice holds a B.S. in Urban Planning and Regional Analysis from Buffalo State College. 

Mitchell Silver, FAICP

“Planning for 21st Century Parks and Public Spaces: What’s Next?”

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | @ The Camp House

Mitchell is a principal with McAdams, a land planning and design company. He is responsible for providing advisory services in urban planning, parks and public space planning. He is an award-winning planner with more than 35 years of experience and is internationally recognized for his leadership and contributions to contemporary planning issues. He is a prolific public speaker and he specializes in comprehensive planning, placemaking and implementation strategies. Prior to joining McAdams, Mitchell served as the commissioner for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation; Chief Planning Officer in Raleigh, NC and served as president of the American Planning Association. He is currently president of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Bruzenskey Bois

“hip-hop is new urbanism”

Thursday, September 29, 2022 | @ Waterhouse Pavilion

Bruzenskey Bois is a Real Estate Investor and Developer based in Tampa, FL. As a first- generation Haitian American, Bruzenskey is originally from Miami, FL and graduated from the University of South Florida with a B.A. in Communication, and undergraduate studies in Architecture. He is also a Certified Apartment Manager recognized by the National Apartment Association and has been in the property management industry since 2011. In 2019, Bruzenskey joined People Places and is responsible for managing over $6 million dollars of commercial and multifamily real estate assets. Currently, Bruzenskey serves on the Government Affairs Committee for the Bay Area Apartment Association, Next Gen Committee for the National Town Builders Association, Senior Advisor for the Tullahassee MORE (Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity) Commission, and Co-Founder of the Congressional Black Caucus for New Urbanism.

Speaker:

Bruzenskey Bois - Community Manager, People Places . Dad. Uncle. Investor. Developer. Activist. Property Manager, Tampa, FL

Cymone Davis - CEO of Black Towns Municipal Management

sekou cooke

“3d Turntables: humanizing architectural technology through hip-hop”

Thursday, May 19, 2022 | @ StoveWorks

Sekou Cooke is an architect, urban designer, researcher, and curator. Cooke is a leading advocate for the study and practice of Hip-Hop Architecture, which addresses the broad impacts of the racist history of architecture and urban planning, opening a pathway for practice, education, and scholarship that embraces architecture as a tool for shaping, reflecting, and understanding culture. He will be discussing his monograph “Hip-Hop Architecture,” ideas of Hip-Hop Architecture, and recent projects influenced by his research practice. Born in Jamaica and based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sekou is also the Director of the Master of Urban Design program at UNC Charlotte, the 2021/2022 Nasir Jones HipHop Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University, and a founding member of the Black Reconstruction Collective.

Speaker:

Sekou Cooke - Principal, sekou cooke STUDIO and Director of MS of Urban Design, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

Spoken word introduction by: Erika Roberts 

Ellen dunham-jones

“retrofitting suburbia for urgent challenges”

February 17, 2022 | @ The Camp House

Ellen Dunham-Jones is a leading urbanist and authority on sustainable suburban redevelopment. Her recent book Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges (Wiley, 2020) examines how successful retrofits of aging big box stores, malls, and office parks are helping communities disrupt automobile dependence, improve public health, support an aging population, leverage social capital for equity, compete for jobs, and add water and energy resilience.

Speaker:

Ellen Dunham-Jones - Director of MS of Urban Design, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA

SARAH BROWN, MELONIE LUSK, BILL RUSH

“urban agriculture & local food system planning in chattanooga”

November 18, 2021 | @ Crabtree Farms

In this panel discussion at Crabtree Farms, speakers explore regional examples of urban agriculture and local food system planning, and discuss why these issues matter to cities planning for economic, public health, and climate change resilience.

Speakers:

Sarah Brown - Policy and Advocacy Manager, Food Well Alliance, Atlanta GA

Melonie Lusk - Executive Director, Crabtree Farms, Chattanooga TN

Bill Rush - YMCA of Greater Chattanooga, Chattanooga TN

ronda lee chapman

“re-imagining our relationship to place”:

how we decolonize design thinking to inspire collective well-being

September 30th, 2021 | @ Waterhouse Pavilion

This conversation invites attendees to think critically about how we define community, how we honor ancestral lands we inhabit and enjoy, and the ways we interact with the inherent politics of place. This edition of CIVIQ was presented in partnership with The Trust for Public Land.

Speakers:

Ronda Lee Chapman - Equity Director, The Trust for Public Land, Washington DC

Daniela Peterson - Senior Community Strategist, The Trust for Public Land, Chattanooga, TN

RHAE PARKES + ERIKA ROBERTS

“EVOLVING NEIGHBORHOODS”:

CREATIVE & COMMUNITY-CENTERED PLANNING

July 22nd, 2021 | @ The Camp House

Meaningful community engagement can be difficult in urban planning but essential for developing viable long-term plans -- grounded in culture and community -- that can succeed. What exactly does conscious and centered community-engaged planning look like? Why is it essential? In this talk, urban planner Rhae Parkes and creative strategist Erika Roberts discuss the challenges and rewards of meaningful engagement, drawing on lessons from the field nationwide and right here in Chattanooga.

Speakers:

Rhae Parkes - Founding Partner, EJP Consulting, Washington DC

Erika Roberts - Creative Strategist, Chattanooga TN 

CIVIQ WEBINAR: TRANSIT-ORIENTED URBAN DESIGN

October 22nd, 2020 | @ Zoom Webinar

This session of CIVIQ highlights national and international trends in cities centered around design for transit supported development. Our guests include Jerome Horne, the Ridership Experience Specialist at the Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGo), Jarrett Walker, PhD, President at Jarrett Walker + Associates, based in Portland, Oregon, and Victor Dover, the Founding Principal of Dover, Kohl & Partners. We're fortunate to have three of the most experienced minds in the practice of transit and city design join us for this event.

Speakers:

Jerome Horne - IndyGo

Jarrett Walker, PhD - Executive Director, Jarrett Walker + Associates 

Victor Dover - Dover, Kohl, & Associates

CIVIQ WEBINAR: CREATIVE RESILIENCY DURING COVID-19

May 21st, 2020 | @ Zoom Webinar

This interactive live webinar focuses on the challenges, opportunities, and creative resiliency that our community is faced with during COVID-19. We will hear from five members of our community that offer unique perspectives shedding light into how our public, personal, community, and civic health have been affected by this pandemic and how these leaders are finding ways to be creatively resilient during this time and in the future. As we continue to face the challenges that COVID-19 presents, we hope that this CIVIQ will provide an opportunity to share ideas and spark creative resiliency moving forward.

Speakers:

Ann Coulter (Moderator) - A. Coulter Consulting

Dr. Michele Pickett - Executive Director, LifeSpring Community Health 

Jermaine Freeman - Deputy Chief of Staff, City of Chattanooga 

Dr. Greg Heath -Guerry Professor, Public Health Program, Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga 

Michael Stone - Director of Innovation Learning, Public Education Foundation Chattanooga

AKIIMA PRICe

“meaningful engagement in stressed populations”

March 5th, 2020 | @ The Camp House

Akiima Price is an award-winning creative thinker and doer who links people, places, and programs with stressed, underserved communities. A Washington, DC native, Akiima is a nationally respected thought leader at the intersection of social and environmental issues and the relationship between nature and community well being. Her innovative programming strategies feature nature as a powerful medium to connect stressed youth, adults, and families in meaningful, positive experiences that affect the way they feel about themselves, their communities, and their parks. From her early career experiences as a National Park Service Interpretation Ranger at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Boulder City, Nevada to work her national work with environmental and social service organizations, Akiima has cultivated over 20 years of experience into cutting-edge best practices in trauma-informed environmentalism.

Liz Ogbu

”DESIGNING WITH INTENTION: HOW WE MIGHT MAKE SPATIAL JUSTICE A REALITY”

November 14th, 2019 | @ The Camp House

A designer, urbanist, and social innovator, Liz is an expert on sustainable design and spatial innovation in challenged urban environments globally. She is founder and principal of Studio O, a multidisciplinary innovation practice that works within communities in need globally to use the power of design to catalyze sustained social impact. Her work blends empathy and human-centered research methodologies, creative engagement practices, architecture and equitable development principles, cross-disciplinary design thinking framework, and social and spatial justice agendas. Liz earned her Bachelor of Arts in architecture from Wellesley College and Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

Matthew Lister

“Places for People”

September 4th, 2019 | @ The Camp House

Matthew is a creative urban place maker, real estate development strategist, and designer. As a Managing Director at Gehl in New York, he focuses on the intersection of real estate strategy and the design and activation of great public spaces. Often working at multiple scales with both private and public clients, he works to develop aspirational yet economically sustainable and implementable solutions. Matthew also brings an expertise in collaborative engagement with diverse communities in the urban change and development process. Matthew is a visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute in New York City.

GENA WIRTH

“TOWARD AN URBAN ECOLOGY”

May 2nd, 2019 | @ The Camp House

Gena is a Registered Landscape Architect and the Design Principal at SCAPE. Trained in landscape architecture, urban planning and horticulture, Gena draws from her interdisciplinary training to create ecologically rich and culturally relevant landscapes from the infrastructural scale to the site level. Gena leads the design on several significant projects in the office.

Gena holds a Master of Landscape Architecture and Master of Urban Planning with Distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from the University of Delaware.

Victor dover

”the art of street design”

February 28th, 2019 | @ The Camp House

Victor Dover serves as principal-in-charge for many of the firm's design and planning projects. He has led more than 150 charrettes. Victor lectures widely around the nation on the topics of livable communities and sustainable development, and was national chair of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) from 2010 to 2012. He recently coauthored, with John Massengale, the bestselling book Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns (Wiley 2014). Victor has been awarded the John Nolen Medal for contributions to urbanism, and is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Miami.

florence williams

”the nature fix”

November 8th, 2018 | @ The Camp House

Florence Williams is a journalist, bestselling author, podcaster and public speaker. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Review of Books, Slate, Mother Jones and numerous other publications. She is also the writer and host of the new Audible Original series, Breasts Unbound, as well as Outside Magazine’s Double-X Factor podcast. Her public speaking includes keynotes at Google, the Smithsonian, the Seattle Zoo, the Aspen Ideas Festival and many other corporate, academic and nonprofit venues.

Veronica o. Davis

”people-centric planning”

August 2nd, 2018 | @ The Camp House

Veronica has experience in both urban planning and civil engineering. She is a transportation guru who uses her knowledge to spark progressive social change. As Co-owner and Principal of Nspiregreen, she is also responsible for the management of the major urban planning functions such as transportation planning, policy development, master planning, sustainability analysis, and long range planning. She is a registered professional engineer in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia.

In July 2012, Veronica was recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House for her professional accomplishments and community advocacy, which includes co-founding Black Women Bike.

Chuck Marohn

”neighborhoods first”

May 3rd, 2018 | @ The Camp House

Charles Marohn - known as "Chuck" to friends and colleagues - is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the State of Minnesota and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). He is the Founder and President of Strong Towns. 
Marohn has a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute.
Marohn is the lead author of Thoughts on Building Strong Towns — Volume 1, Volume 2  and Volume 3 — as well as the author of A World Class Transportation System. He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns’ web content. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America and in 2017 was named one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time by Planetizen.

ryan gravel

”where we want to live”

February 8th, 2018 | @ The Camp House

Ryan Gravel, AICP, LEED AP, is an urban planner, designer, and author working on site design, infrastructure, concept development, and public policy as the founding principal at Sixpitch. His master’s thesis in 1999 was the original vision for the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile transit greenway that with fifteen years of progress, is changing both the physical form of his city and the decisions people make about living there. Now a $4 billion public-private investment in the early stages of implementation, the project’s health and economic benefits are already evident through record-breaking use of its first section of mainline trail and $3.1 billion of private sector redevelopment since 2005.

Jarrett walker

“transit truths”

November 16th, 2017 | @ Bessie Smith Hall

Named as one of Planetizen's "100 Most Influential Urbanists," Jarrett Walker is an internationally recognized guru in transit design. As a consultant, he is challenged to seek efficiency among a complex and ever-changing network of constraints faced by municipal transit systems. As an urbanist, he sees transit as a tool enrich communities.