When an employee first starts at Urban Collage, one of his or her earliest crucibles is participation in a public meeting. Our firm has done literally hundreds of workshops, in a wide array of formats, for communities large and small, and for audiences both accommodating and, shall we say, ‘opinionated’. Learning how to moderate without directing, and how to inform without biasing, are key skills for a Collager. But another challenge is how, after scores of meetings, UC can keep the public meeting format fresh and interesting. How can we avoid the process becoming formulaic, while maintaining its usefulness and dynamism?In Prattville, Alabama, we tried out a new tack… Read more of “I’ll take ‘Public Involvement’ for a thousand, please, Alex…”
“I’ll take ‘Public Involvement’ for a thousand, please, Alex…”
by Dennis Madsen on August 5th, 2009Strategic Master Plan for the City of Fountain Inn, SC
by Stanford Harvey on August 4th, 2009Urban Collage, Inc. prepared a Strategic Master Plan for the City of Fountain Inn, SC that will serve as a guide for future growth, development and revitalization within the historic city. The plan for the city of 6,000 focuses on developing physical and economic revitalization strategies for sustaining and improving the City’s downtown core and surrounding areas.
Core issues included the need to stabilize and improve the downtown business environment, aesthetic improvements to historic downtown buildings, preserving the City’s historic character, and management of increasing residential development pressure. Plan initiatives include narrowing Main Street to promote a more pedestrian-friendly downtown shopping area, promoting higher quality residential development to provide additional housing opportunities and price points and developing new marketing materials to promote the town to prospective employers, residents and visitors.
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Braselton
by Stanford Harvey on August 4th, 2009Urban Collage is leading the creation of a growth management and development blueprint for the Town of Braselton, GA. The comprehensive plan update includes a look at market trends affecting the city and how they can reinforce the town’s key strengths and characteristics. A recent article detailed some of the planning effort’s preliminary findings and the potential ramifications for the city.
Bluegrass Community and Technical College Newtown Pike Campus Plan
by Stanford Harvey on August 3rd, 2009Urban Collage is part of a team lead by EOP Architects that is designing the new main campus of Bluegrass Community and Technical College at the former Eastern State Mental Hospital site just northwest of Downtown Lexington. The new campus for over 8,000 students is seen as a key economic catalyst for the continued revitalization of the area. Recently, a series of stakeholder and public meetings were held on this important project and the attached article describes the overall efforts.
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The public voice in full swing
by Louis Johnson on September 1st, 2009As many are aware Lexington, KY and much of the surrounding region is running full bore in the planning, design and construction of projects for the upcoming Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. It is estimated that the Games will bring hundreds of thousands of people to Lexington, with millions more viewing on TV across the world. In the face of this deadline, Lexington has launched numerous planning efforts to improve the quality of life, physical environments and overall aesthetic of the urban and rural landscape to provide an enjoyable experience for all, while also getting some long awaited projects to fruition.
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