Emerging Firms in Planning and Urban Design in the Era of Covid

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, emerging firms are facing new challenges, but also opportunities for more adaptive and creative strategy making for our cities.

In partnership with the American Planning Association (APA) NY Metro Chapter Urban Design Committee, Buro Happold organized a panel on ‘Emerging Firms in Planning and Urban Design in the Era of Covid’ that took place on November 10, 2020.

The discussion centered around the ways the planning community can support and encourage new and smaller firms to flourish, including MWDBE firms. As a firm, Buro Happold stands out for its commitment to collaboration with the most innovative firms of all sizes, many of which are nimbly inventing the future approaches to urban strategy. We pride ourselves in putting together highly collaborative teams that most adaptively address the challenges and problems to solve for our clients.

Click play to watch the discussion between these entrepreneurial practitioners!

Panelists:

Sreoshy Banerjea, Assistant Vice President – Urban Design, NYC Economic Development Corporation

Sreoshy Banerjea leads Urban Design within the Planning Division at The New York City Economic Development Corporation where she guides urban design strategy and manages consultants on visionary master planning efforts. Prior to her time in the public sector, she has been a project architect and urban designer at Dattner Architects on civic minded-urban projects. She has worked with a variety of internationally renowned architects, including Rafael Vinoly architects in New York, and Dominique Perrault in Paris. Most recently, she founded NYCXDESIGN Design Corps as well as her course, The Creative RFP Toolkit. Sreoshy has a Master’s in Urban Design from MIT and a Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Celeste Frye, CEO and Principal, Public Works Partners, moderator

Celeste co-founded Public Works Partners out of a passion to help mission-driven organizations increase their positive impact on local communities. She’s spent over 20 years helping to cultivate healthy communities and organizations. Specializing in developing programs grounded in data analysis and management practices, she helps organizations identify ways to improve program performance and measure impact and success. Celeste has led engagements on developing community-driven goals through facilitating processes and bringing different stakeholders together.

Shachi Pandey, Founding Principal, MUD Workshop

Shachi Pandey is a people-centric urban designer committed to the revitalization of neighborhoods and public places. She is the Founding Principal of MUD Workshop, an urban design practice engaged in several long-range public urban design projects in and around NYC. Current projects include the Jersey City Master Plan 2040, Mamaroneck Comprehensive Plan, Bradhurst Urban Design Framework in Upper Manhattan, Suffolk County ‘Blueway’ Plan and Sag Harbor Waterfront Access Plan.

Over the last five years, MUD Workshop has led and collaborated with several interdisciplinary professionals on award winning projects. Chief among these is the City of Easton Comprehensive Plan, led by MUD Workshop, which was awarded the annual LVPC award in 2017 and received certificates of invaluable community service from PA State Senators and Congressman Matt Cartwright. In addition, the Mount Kisco Comprehensive Plan and Hoboken Master Plan, where MUD Workshop was sub-consultant, received the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation Award the New Jersey Future Smart Growth Award respectively.

Shachi holds a Master’s degree in City Planning (Urban Design) and a Certificate in Real Estate Design and Development from UPenn, where she was winner of the ULI Hines national urban design competition. Shachi teaches Urban Design Studio at Columbia GSAPP’s Architecture and Urban Design Program and serves as the VP of Intergovernmental Affairs at the APA NY Metro Chapter.

Jae Shin, Partner, HECTOR

Jae is a designer and partner at HECTOR, an urban design practice based in Newark, NJ. HECTOR designs landscapes, buildings, neighborhood plans & development regulations—learning from traditions of popular education & community organizing to weave truly civic places. Jae recently served as an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), where she facilitated efforts to define and implement design principles for preserving and rehabilitating New York City’s public housing. She holds degrees in painting from Rhode Island School of Design and architecture from Princeton University. Her projects have received support from the MacDowell Colony and the National Endowment for the Arts, and she has led design studios at New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

James Johnson-Piett, Principal and CEO, Urbane Development

James is Principal and CEO of Urbane, a social impact agency strengthening small businesses and community anchor institutions in historically disinvested communities. James has worked in 50+ communities across North America/Caribbean, with 1000+ small businesses, representing 1.1MM+ SF of commercial and community facility space. James has helped raise over $60MM for small business and community development initiatives.

James spearheads Urbane’s place-based investment platform, including Caton Flats, the $135MM mixed-use development project featuring the redevelopment of Flatbush Caton Market and 255 units of affordable housing in Brooklyn; and represents Philadelphia and Brooklyn, respectively, as part of the Boston Impact Initiative’s national network of fund managers working to develop blended capital, place-based investment vehicles explicitly focused on racial and economic justice.

Currently, James serves as a board director of The Merchants Fund (Philadelphia) and Community Solutions, Inc. (NYC). James is also an advisory board member for All Together Now PA. James was named an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar in 2019, 40 under 40 Rising Star by Hunter College Food Policy Center and one of the 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture by Brooklyn Magazine. James is an alumnus of Swarthmore College and MIT’s Center for Real Estate, Professional Development Institute.

Georgeen Theodore, Principal and Co-Founder, Interboro

Georgeen, principal and co-founder of Interboro, is a registered architect and urban designer. She received a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Design School, where she graduated with distinction. She is Professor and Director of the Master of Infrastructure Planning Program at New Jersey Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture. Her recent urban design and planning work has been awarded the national AIA Regional & Urban Design Award (2020) and the APA National Planning Achievement Gold Award (2020).