Who here is directly involved with urban development in their city?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by plinko

This is wonderful and exactly what so many cities need. Sadly most of mine are driven by parking (though that is changing) so you end up with a podium.

Like so much of "neighborhood Chicago", these work without podiums/driveways/curb cuts because of the city's ubiquitous alleys that bisect nearly every single block in the city.

These qualify for 0.5 parking per unit by Chicago's TOD ordinance. The lots are 50' wide, so each building will get a parking pad for 6 cars off the alley in back., meaning 2 units in each building won't come with off-street parking, which is totally fine considering there's an L stop 2.5 blocks away.

Originally Posted by plinko

Right now I'm designing a private high school on an urban site, three apartment buildings, and a factory that grows of all things...bumblebees.

That's wild. I've never worked on any kind of industrial facility projects, let alone one that produces bees!!

But we need all the friendly little buzzy pollinators we can get, so hopefully you design a successful bee factory.

[MayDay]

My recent work involved some of the "fringe" aspects of local firms and projects on the insurance side. My spouse's work is directly involved with urban development but I'm not at liberty to discuss any of those details.

[dchan]

I currently work as an engineer with the city designing road markings, including bike lanes, bus lanes, and expanded pedestrian spaces.

Before my current job, I worked for a 1.5 years with a window manufacturing firm, which made and sold windows to residential and commercial buildings (most sales were within NYC area).

Before that, worked as a drafter & novice zoning analyzer for a small architectural firm. Since I didn't study architecture, most of my work was for apartment renovation projects with a full-lot building projects here and there.

Before that, I worked with a real estate development & construction firm.

[Lakelander]

I'm an urban planner based in Jacksonville. I started my career off as an Intern Architect for a small firm in Lakeland (hence the name....Lakelander) and relocated to Jacksonville to work for an architecture/real estate development firm in Ponte Vedra Beach back in late 2003. Over the years, I've help design or master site plan airport terminals, theme parks, shopping centers, high rises, schools, mixed buildings, residential subdivisions, marinas, industrial buildings and schools, etc. across the south. Also spent five years as an in-house planning consultant at FDOT, so have good experience with complete streets, bridges, and rail project (i.e. SunRail and Brightline) coordination.

In January 2024, I walked away from my employer and launched my own planning and real estate development firm. Much of my work is around Northeast Florida but I also have projects in Montana, New Orleans, Tampa Bay and South Florida. The Jax jobs focus on revitalization of traditional inner city marginalized communities while limiting displacement and gentrification. So modification of zoning and land use policies, historic preservation, grant writing, adaptive reuse and infill mixed use development.

I was offered the planning director job for Jacksonville last year but turned it down. Loving being my own boss, picking the projects I'm passionate about to work on, so I don't see myself going back to the traditional field.