PlaceMakers (operating originally as T-Six Urbanists) prepared a concept plan and conceptual scheme on a 85 acre site on behalf of Peters Dewald Land Company Inc. The Buckley Lands provide an opportunity for the M.D. of Rocky View to implement a more sustainable way of accommodating increasing growth pressure.
Stories from the Fields > Cochrane Lake | Rocky View, Alberta
Cochrane Lake | Rocky View, Alberta
PlaceMakers (operating originally as T-Six Urbanists) were engaged in early 2008 to develop a Hamlet Plan for Cochrane Lake through an interactive on-site week-long public design charrette. Cochrane Lake is a small rural settlement just north of the City of Cochrane, and within the one-million acre rural Municipal District of Rocky View, Alberta.
Stories from the Fields > Early County 2055 | Georgia
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 characterized by wide community engagement, master planning, a form-based SmartCode customization, and ongoing guidance in how to implement ambitious efforts in a climate of economic disinvestment.
Stories from the Fields > Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Fitchburg has the unique advantage of lying between the time-tested urbanity of Madison and the inspiring landscape of the agrarian countryside. Citizens have access to either in a matter of minutes. But what’s missing in its current array of suburban housing and commercial areas is the appeal and practical performance of more compact, walkable neighborhoods. The Fitchburg SmartCode District aims to empower a more complete community with the full range of living, working, and playing environments.
Stories from the Fields > Florence Gardens | Gulfport, MS
Florence Gardens | Gulfport, MS
The Mississippi Renewal Forum was perhaps the largest charrette in history and included urbanists from across the country and around the world. Among them were PlaceMakers Susan Henderson, who led the Architectural Team, Howard Blackson and Geoff Dyer, urban designers, and Scott Doyon and Ben Brown, who ran the charrette’s web operation and kept both displaced residents and national media up to the minute on exactly what was happening.
Stories from the Fields > Four A | Conyers, Georgia
Four A | Conyers, Georgia
When a developer sets out to do something special in a place hit hard by the housing bust, skepticism is to be expected. And when that place is also grappling with the challenges of shifting demographics, misinformation can quickly spiral out of control.
Clarity — of intentions, of vision, and of plan — is key.
Stories from the Fields > Hedgewood Homes | Atlanta, Georgia
Hedgewood Homes | Atlanta, Georgia
Hedgewood may have started as a small, independent homebuilder competing on the basis of quality and architectural distinction, but such modest days were short-lived. Over the course of twenty years, the principles that drove their early success fueled an evolution into one of the Southeast’s most admired builders of environmentally-friendly, architecturally inspiring, traditional neighborhoods.
Long story short, the company became more than just a homebuilder. Instead, they achieved a sort of marketing gold — the wholly unique and desirable prospect of “total community,” something unmatched in the region. What they lacked, however, was a strong sense of how to take such a story to market. They turned to PlaceMakers to overhaul the company’s brand.
Stories from the Fields > Kona, Hawai'i | Honokohau Village
Kona, Hawai’i | Honokohau Village
Honokohau Village offers up a whole new way of planning for the County of Hawai’i Planning Department, the focus of which is an 80-acre TOD in Kona that includes the new West Hawai’i Civic Center. But the broader aim is educational.
Stories from the Fields > Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Unlike many — if not most — American cities, Lawrence, Kansas, has a vibrant, intact downtown. The fringes of the city, however, had been under increasing development pressure in recent years, leading local officials to undertake an intense planning and coding process to manage developing sprawl.
They turned to the SmartCode, and PlaceMakers, to create a parallel regulating ordinance where alternate outcomes were possible.
Stories from the Fields > Leander, Texas
Leander, 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 most part, didn’t even have to pay for it.
