MEANINGFUL PLACEMAKING IN MIAMI

A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY TO UNIFY THE HEART OF MIAMI

When my wife and I arrived in Miami on Election Day 2000, we were smitten with our adopted city.

But there were many things wrong with it.

There was a lack of museums and performing arts space.

Omni wasn't safe after dark.

Vast chunks of prime land across from American Airlines Arena/Bayside were surface parking lots.

The low-slung I-395 bridge and cramped passageway under it made it virtually impossible for pedestrians to move from the AAA to the land around the old Miami Herald building.

Fast forward a decade and a half and the various spaces that make up the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County provide affordable and world class events every night of the year.

The northern edge of Downtown proper, just south of 395, is largely filled with condo buildings and Bayside promises to reinvent itself as something more than a tourist mall.

Museum Park is open, PAMM is open and the Frost will soon complete the puzzle.

Bayfront Park is run by a dear friend of mine and is one of the greatest waterfront event spaces on the planet.

I got to play a part in some of these changes, working in both the public and private sectors.

My wife, Heidi Johson-Wright, got to review wheelchair access at public facilities as part of her job with Miami-Dade County.

Now, in my work with PlusUrbia Design, I once again have gotten to play a small part in the big revitalization of my city.

First, we created the award-winning Wynwood Neighborhood Revitalization District.

Then we started the yet-to-be-finished task of pushing to make Calle Ocho a complete street.

Now, PlusUrbia is displayed in media all over town, for its work for the Town Square Neighborhood Development Corporation.

I used my Miami City Hall contacts to introduce PlusUrbia to the incredible leadership at both Town Square and the Arsht.

PlusUrbia's concept design of a flexible park-plaza for the Arsht Gateway is featured in the Miami Herald.

The hope is FDOT, which is backing a signature bridge, will team with the County and others to make sure the urban realm around the new bridge is welcoming to all...that it will, pun intended, build a bridge between Overtown, Downtown, Omni and other crucial core neighborhoods.

I am humbled to have gotten to play a part in making the day to night improvements in the core of the Magic City.

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