APA Planning Magazine: Inclusive Mobility

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT, PLUS URBIA DESIGN

PlusUrbia Design Communications Leader Steve Wright, and his wife: Americans with Disabilities Act expert Heidi Johnson-Wright, co-authored the Planning Magazine February Cover story. 

Inclusive Mobility the title of the article on applying Universal Design to every aspect of mobility – from complete streets to commuter rail to buses and safe sidewalks.

The article interviewed a half dozen experts and shared best practices for delivering seamless barrier-free mobility to the nearly 57 million Americans who have some kind of disability.

Planning, the publication of the American Planning Association, has previously published the Wright’s guide to better urban design of public spaces for people who use wheelchairs, canes, crutches, walkers and other assistive mobility devices.

Johnson-Wright, an attorney by training and longtime advocate for people with disabilities, has used a wheelchair for her mobility for four decades.

Wright, an award-winning journalist, blogs daily on urban design, travel, human rights and related issues.

https://www.planning.org/planning/2018/feb/inclusivemobility

URBAN DESIGN AT GROUND LEVEL OF 395 SIGNATURE BRIDGE IS KEY TO RE-LINKING OVERTOWN

URBAN DESIGN TEAM WORKED WITH ARCHITECTS AND DESIGNERS REFLECTIVE OF AND ROOTED IN OVERTOWN WHILE GATHERING AN UNPRECEDENTED AMOUNT OF COMMUNITY INPUT

If you want to see urban design born of unprecedented community input, visit the 395 bridge site at FDOT and click on the links of the selected team's Aesthetics Master Plan and Aesthetics Manual. 

I played a small role in this, editing some text, focusing some context and serving as a sounding board to brilliant, conscientious designers who worked all night and through weekends to capture the essence of the Overtown and Miami community. 

They worked with designers reflective of and rooted in the community.

They agonized over designs, to ensure they reconnected the fabric of a community torn apart by highway designs of more than a half century ago. 

This was an almost spiritual undertaking, to involve the true leaders and impacted people of Overtown and its surroundings. 

The community created the winning signature bridge and urban design.

View the community-based Aesthetic Master Plan

Review context-sensitive design in the Aesthetics Manual

THANK YOU TO MIAMI TODAY FOR PUTTING A HUMAN FACE ON PLUSURBIA DESIGN'S ROLE IN LITTLE HAVANA

Coalition works to preserve what all love in Little Havana

CLICK TO READ FULL STORY AT PLUSURBIA'S SITE

PLUS URBIA DESIGN PRESENTS FRANCIS SUAREZ FOR MAYOR OF MIAMI

GREAT TO WELCOME OUR DEAR FRIEND FRANCIS SUAREZ INTO THE HOME OF JUAN MULLERAT AND MEGAN MCLAUGHLIN -- CO-HOSTED BY STEVE WRIGHT AND HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT TO HELP LAUNCH HIS CAMPAIGN FOR THE ELECTION IN 2017

Francis grew up just blocks from Juan & Megan's restored historic home in Miami's incomparable Shenandoah neighborhood.

We live in a restored 1920 Spanish Mission style on historic William Jennings Bryan Park.

Francis, when he was a rookie commissioner for District 4, spearheaded a compromise that brought a properly-scaled park office, mini community center and ADA-compliant restrooms to the developed side of Bryan Park.

The park, once in peril of being completely paved over for a competition tennis center that would have destroyed the neighborhood with noise, cars and lack of green space, survives.

Francis showed his leadership by preserving the western half of the 2-acre park as green space in perpetuity.

Each day, we look out our huge front windows and see dozens upon dozens of children and families playing on the green grass that almost became a sea of concrete.

We look forward to Francis' leadership -- on parks, job creation, affordable housing, safety, crime reduction, corridor enhancements, the arts, attracting innovative companies, historic preservation and reinventing Calle8 as a livable main street with 2-way, calmed traffic -- as mayor of Miami.

PlusUrbia Design’s “LA TERRACITA” parklet

Named Finalist for 2016 Public Space Challenge by the Miami Foundation

PlusUrbia Design’s vision to create a parklet out of parking spaces in Little Havana is a finalist in the 2016 Public Space Challenge sponsored by the Miami Foundation. The Coconut Grove-based studio’s proposal for a low-cost, high-impact urban oasis was chosen from more than 400 submissions.

PlusUrbia is well-known for its urban interventions in Little Havana, including myCalle8.org - for a complete streets redesign of Calle Ocho. The studio’s parklet would create a public gathering space (to play dominoes or to just hang out) in a densely populated area in a neighborhood with one of the lowest indexes of open space per capita in the country. 

“La Terracita creates a gathering place in the dense urban neighborhood lacking on open space. Diversity, density and proximity to jobs are East Little Havana’s strengths. But all those people have very few places to gather to play dominoes, discuss politics and rest their bones on comfortable chairs,” said Camila Zablah, a designer at PlusUrbia.

“This parklet is for the locals, away from the tourists of Calle8. Separated from traffic, raised above street level to connect to the existing sidewalk, this small grouping of tables and chairs can be the start of something big – an emphasis on livability in Little Havana.”

Parklets can be replicated throughout Miami to create welcoming open spaces in urban areas.

http://plusurbia.com/blog/ 

PUBLIC SPACE CHALLENGE 2016

MIAMI FOUNDATION NAMES PLUS URBIA DESIGN PARKLET A FINALIST

Change is happening in Miami’s parks, plazas and open spaces. You can skate at a new skate park in what was once an empty lot under I-95 at NW Third Avenue and NW First Street. You can stay hydrated and reduce waste at Margaret Pace Park’s newly installed water bottle refill station and water fountain. You can easily explore all the amenities along the Ludlam Trail by following walking and biking signs that make it easier to know how long it will take to get where you want to go.

Vibrant public spaces like these help connect Miamians to each other and to their communities. That is why we created the Public Space Challenge. We wanted to empower Miamians to improve, activate and create new public spaces in their neighborhoods. Anyone can apply to get funding and help technical help to make their idea a reality.

There’s a growing movement in Greater Miami recognizing the power of parks and open spaces. All you have to do is look at the 400+ submissions for evidence. The community set a new record for number of ideas submitted. Residents across the county from Miami Gardens to Homestead shared their vision during the Challenge. West End residents also submitted more 2016 entries than in the past three years of the Challenge, supported by County Commissioner Juan C. Zapata, District 11.

Design firm PlusUrbia proposed creating an urban parklet out of a parking space in East Little Havana’s residential area. They want to transform the parking area into an open space with a small grouping of tables and chairs where residents can gather to play dominoes in a safe, welcoming spot away from traffic.

http://ourmiami.org/finalists-announced-miamians-reimagine-parks-neighborhoods-in-2016-public-space-challenge/ 

 

FEATURED IN TROPIC MAGAZINE

PROUD TO CO-AUTHOR AN ADVOCACY PIECE FOR COMPLETE STREETS

PlusUrbia Design authored feature story on complete streets published by Tropic Magazine.

It's on Florida news stands now.

To read online, visit the website below and toggle to page 62:

http://tropicmagazine.uberflip.com/i/632751-tropic-feb16-emag

Please share with everyone you know who values pedestrian safety and better urban corridors that will take cars off the road with better transit, bike lanes and walkability.

Innovative WYNWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION DISTRICT

 

Honored with American Planning Association Gold Coast 2015 Best Plan Award

PlusUrbia Design -- collaborating with the Wynwood Business Improvement District (BID), City of Miami Planning and Zoning Department, and Akerman law firm – has been honored by the American Planning Association (APA) for creating the Wynwood Neighborhood Revitalizaiton District.

The Coconut Grove-based studio’s vision for the renowned arts district received the Gold Coast Section, Florida Chapter’s 2015 Planning Award in the category of Best Plan, Report or Study. The innovative NRD plan, crafted in collaboration with the City of Miami, the Wynwood BID and Akerman Law supports Wynwood’s creative industries, with mixed-use development, walkable streets, transit corridors and open space.

"The Wynwood NRD is proof that government and the private sector can work together to create great things. The plan’s strength is that it gives equal standing to all stakeholder interests.  Collaboration guided this transformation of Wynwood into a 24-hour, multi-purpose, mixed-use center for the arts. Our team is gratified to be honored -- along with our partners – by the American Planning Association,” – Maria Bendfeldt, of PlusUrbia

The Wynwood NRD creates more residential development while also allowing for smaller units to serve millenials and artists with affordable apartments and live-work units. To preserve the light industry among the hip galleries, the PlusUrbia team created a Transfer of Development Rights program that allows warehouse owners to sell the development rights to their buildings – so development pressures do not encroach on the legacy businesses.

The Miami City Commission recently adopted the NRD. Wynwood, based on the collaborative NRD, was one of only four places in America recognized by the national APA in 2015 as one of America’s Great Places: Neighborhoods. 

http://plusurbia.com/innovative-wynwood-neighborhood-revitalization-district-honored-with-american-planning-association-gold-coast-2015-best-plan-award/