For September’s Urban Design Panel, Mayer/Reed and BPS will be presenting a Central City Urban Design Study focusing on our urban waterfront, requesting feedback on the initial phases of the study.

The City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) will share scope and progress in a recently kicked off effort to identify opportunities for urban design interventions and redevelopment along the Central City waterfront of the Willamette River.

Mayer/Reed will share results from the Urban Design Analysis phase that help identify important corridors, activity nodes, and opportunities for urban design interventions.  The focus areas resulting from this analysis will highlight opportunities for future development and possible interventions varying from discrete, interim, temporary, tactical treatments to more permanent medium and long-term projects.

Speakers

Ryan Singer is the Principal Planner for Long-Range Planning and Urban Design for the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.  He has over 20 years of experience in planning in New York City where he led the Bronx Office of the Department of City Planning, served as Executive Director of the Board of Standards and Appeals, and Senior Director of Land Use and Commission Operations for the Department of City Planning.  His work includes area-wide planning, development of urban design guidelines, strategic planning, and change management.  Ryan has a master’s in urban planning from the University of Washington and is happy to return to his roots in the Pacific Northwest.

Shannon Simms, ASLA, is an associate principal at Mayer/Reed in Portland, Oregon, where she leads an urban design and landscape architecture practice. She has spent her career exploring the placemaking potential within the right-of-way on a wide variety of transportation projects. She has served on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Oregon Chapter and has taught urban design and landscape architecture at University of Oregon. She has a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Harvard University. Shannon is inspired by travels in both wilderness and urban areas on foot and by bike and she tends to think about landscape architecture in terms of movement.