Early County 2055 | Georgia
Charles B. Rice grew up in Early County, Georgia, and moved away to make his fortune. Upon returning, he was struck by the downtrodden state of the county, and undertook a 50-year visioning effort to turn things around. Recognizing the expansive scope of his challenge, he engaged PlaceMakers to facilitate an economic development visioning process…
Read MoreCalgary, Alberta | East Village
The East Village plan includes a form-based urban code and provides for a new mixed-use, high density urban neighbourhood of 8,500-9,500 residents and over 100,000 square feet of ground level commercial retail in Calgary’s downtown core. Under sub-contract to Jenkins & Associates, PlaceMakers (operating as T-Six Urbanists at the time) prepared a comprehensive downtown area…
Read MoreEl Paso, Texas
In February 2008, with a constrained budget but strong political will, the City of El Paso approached PlaceMakers to lead a SmartCode effort. In less than six months from the date of contract, the code was adopted. Since that time, through public-private partnerships between the City and the development community, PlaceMakers has returned to design…
Read MoreSan Marcos Creek, California
What happens when communities agree that a long-range vision is necessary, but can’t reach agreement over what it should be? The City of San Marcos presents a good example. Exploring ways to develop a new downtown — one that could serve as an infill model for North County San Diego — the San Marcos citizens’…
Read MoreLeander, Texas
When Leander, Texas, became the Austin region’s fastest growing municipality, they did what any city would do: They looked to similar and surrounding places for guidance. Unfortunately, what they found was disheartening. Sprawl, it seemed, was the adverse consequence of rapid growth. And they didn’t want it. So they came to us. And, for the…
Read MoreNational City, California
PlaceMaker Howard Blackson led a downtown Specific Plan, Urban Design standards and project Environmental Impact Report for National City’s Redevelopment authority. The plan and EIR was adopted by the City Council in February 2005 after a two-year process. The project’s baseline operating system utilized the Form-Based Code approach to place the correct building intensity to…
Read MoreNew Castle County, Delaware
New Castle County, Delaware is exceptional in that as a 2,000 square mile planning area, the County has the vision of both protecting natural resources and planning for more intense development that will support transit and sustainable community. They elected to implement a form-based code as a new Hamlets & Villages chapter within their existing…
Read MoreTown of Taos, New Mexico
With three diverse cultural traditions and over 400 years of built history, the Town of Taos, New Mexico, is home to some of the most distinctive architectural and planning patterns in the United States. The historic district remains a 16th century Spanish village to this day. So, when it became apparent that the blunt force…
Read More