Marketing for Urban Design and Smart Growth

Programs Breakfast Series

 

In the NY metropolitan area as well as throughout the U.S., there is an increasing need for new development to accommodate the ever-growing population and the desire to achieve a better quality of life. To avoid urban and suburban sprawl, a new idea of Smart Growth has developed within the A/E/C industry, working with existing resources and infrastructure in an effort to restore community and vitality of city centers and older suburbs. Smart Growth generates new and exciting opportunities for the A/E/C industry but also creates many new challenges to position our firms properly. What is the best way for us to market ourselves for this type of multi-faceted development? Panelists will discuss how to overcome these challenges and become successful in this growing movement.

SPEAKERS

Moderator:
Kristopher Takacs, AIA
Associate
Skidmore Owings & Merrill           

Kristopher plays an important leadership role in SOM’s New York practice where he manages the master planning and architectural design of individual buildings to entire communities. As an accomplished emerging architect, he is recognized for melding his multi-disciplinary skills to deliver innovative and creative solutions that shape the city.

Kristopher’s expertise in strategic planning and effective management of complex assignments enables him to support a broad cross section of public institutions, private-sector clients and public-private partnerships.  He is currently working with LCOR and NJ TRANSIT on a Smart Growth master plan to redevelop the sixty-five-acre Hoboken Terminal and Yard in New Jersey, and with Continuum/East West Partners and the Regional Transportation District on the design of a brand new integrated multi-modal commuter hub, Transit-Oriented Development and public realm at historic Union Station in Denver. He also continues his work as the lead architect for the reconstruction of the MTA’s Cortlandt Street 1 subway station at the World Trade Center in New York.

Prior to joining SOM, Kristopher designed transit facilities and large-scale developments in the United States and Europe. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute and Bachelor of Arts from Lehigh University. He is a registered architect in New York and New Jersey, an active member of the American Institute of Architects and Regional Planning Association, and member of the Board of Directors for the International School of Brooklyn.

Panelists:

Anthony L. Marchetta
VP and Principal
LCOR

A native of New Jersey, Mr. Marchetta began his career in the public sector with the city of New Brunswick, where he was Assistant Business Administrator. Later named Executive Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development for Middlesex County, he initiated many new housing and economic development programs to serve 400,000 residents and 20 different municipal jurisdictions.

Since joining LCOR in 2000, Mr. Marchetta supervised the construction and lease-up of Gaslight Commons, a 200-unit, luxury multifamily residential community adjacent to the New Jersey Transit Sloan Street Train Station, which was the recipient of the New Jersey Future Smart Growth Award in 2002. He is currently the project manager of the planning and approvals aspects of the Redevelopment of the Hoboken Terminal and Yard, a major mixed-use transit development located on the waterfront across the Hudson River.

Mr. Marchetta holds master’s degrees in City and Regional Planning, as well as Business Administration, from Rutgers University. He is a licensed professional planner and served as a member of the New Jersey Planning Commission from 1998 to 2001.

 

Vivian E. Baker
Assistant Director
Transit Friendly Land Use & Development - New Jersey Transit Corporation

Vivian is the Assistant Director of Transit Friendly Land Use & Development for New Jersey Transit Corporation, the nation’s largest statewide public transportation system.  Vivian directs NJ TRANSIT’s  “Transit-Friendly Planning Assistance Program,” which provides technical and consultant assistance to communities interested in creating and implementing transit-oriented plans and development strategies around existing or proposed transit facilities.  

Vivian holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a post-graduate certification in Environmental Planning from Rutgers University.  She is certified in Downtown Revitalization (New Jersey’s Main Street Program) and Context Sensitive Design (New Jersey Department of Transportation’s “Context Sensitive Design Solutions”).  Vivian is also a founding member of the Editorial Board of “Transit-Friendly Development,” a quarterly, electronic newsletter - created by NJ TRANSIT and the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University - designed to keep municipal officials, planners and advocates up-to-date on the potential for development and redevelopment around transit stations, in New Jersey and around the country.  She has been a guest speaker at seminars, conferences and classes sponsored by the VoorheesTransportation Center, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Municipal Land Use Center at the College of New Jersey, New Jersey Future, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association and the New Jersey Institute of Appraisers.

Albert Wei
Senior Urban Planner
Arup

Albert Wei has 15 years of experience designing and managing the development of urban and infrastructure projects globally.  As an urban planner in Arup’s New York office, Al designs environmentally and socially sustainable urban places.  His areas of practice specialization include new districts and communities, urban revitalization projects, mixed-use developments, industrial and office estates, integration of urban design with infrastructural, landscape and ecological systems, urban programming and placemaking strategies, real estate development strategies, and advanced 3-dimensional visualization of urban environments.  Al’s approach begins with the systematic identification and evaluation of the relevant urban, ecological, social, infrastructural, economic and stakeholder relationship systems informing a site, followed by their optimization through the design of strategies for the deployment of buildings, landscape forms, programs, and infrastructure.

Previously, Al served a project and program manager for the development of complex real estate and infrastructure projects around the globe:-- experience providing him with a deep knowledge of commercial, construction, financial and regulatory considerations underlying any project.

Al received his Bachelor’s of Urban Studies & Architecture from Columbia University, and his Master of Science Architecture Studies from MIT.


Chitra Radin
President
Radin Consulting, Inc.

Chitra Radin, President of Radin Consulting, Inc., has over 20 years of experience in the field of transportation and environmental planning. Radin Consulting, Inc. specializes in the preparation of environmental documents and facilitating their review and approval by federal and state regulatory agencies.

Ms. Radin has extensive experience in managing environmental processes for large transportation projects.  She was the EIS Project Manager for the Hudson Bergen Light Rail Transit System and served as New York City Transit’s agency representative for reviewing environmental documents for the Fulton Street Transit Center and the new South Ferry Terminal Station in Lower Manhattan.  Ms. Radin is currently assisting NJ TRANSIT in environmental planning and Preliminary Engineering phases of the Access to the Region’s Core EIS Project.

 

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