Expertise

In a transformational decade for American cities, towns, and regions, planning and urban design are responding to critical challenges in how we work, shop, recreate, and learn, and how to foreground priorities of climate, equity, and community in our responses. Gastilworks draws on expertise in comprehensive planning and design excellence, together with experience in assembling teams and partnering, to do this transformational work.

Planning, Design, and Development Team Selection and Coordination.

Strategic Planning and Programming for Organizations.

Revitalization Action Plans for Downtowns.

Urban Design District Guidelines.

Campus Planning.

Planning and Development Frameworks for Waterfronts.

Strategic Planning for Public Space.

Affordable Housing Initiatives and Zoning.

Complete Streets Planning for Main Streets and Town Centers.

Mobility Innovation Strategies.

Neighborhood Planning.

Practice & Research

Leadership

• Director, Gastilworks Planning & Design LLC.
• David Lewis Director of Urban Design and Regional Engagement: Director, Remaking Cities Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
• City Planning Director, City of Pittsburgh.
• Planning Director, City of Seattle.
• Director, Manhattan Office, Department of City Planning, New York City.
• Director, Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture.
• Transit-Oriented and Regional Design Director, Regional Plan Association.

Downtowns and Resilient Regions

• “Downtowns: Adaptive Reuse Project of the 2020s.” Portland Society for Architecture, COVID-19: One Year Later series.
• “Cities, Planning and the New Service Economy.” FuturePerfect Talks. Podcast.
• Metropolitan Innovation Summit Ruhr. Dortmund, Germany. Speaker on innovation and regional resilience session.
• “Just Transition Platform: Carbon-Intensive Regions Seminar: Transatlantic Dialogue.” Panelist. European Commission.

Waterfronts

• Riverlife. Board Member. Co-chair Design Committee.
• City as Living Laboratory. Board Member.
• “Washington Avenue Waterfront Piers and District: A Resilient Land Use Cohort (RLUC) Virtual Advisory Services Panel.” ULI Panel Member for DRWC.
• “Adaptive Preservation: Lessons Learned from Challenges and Opportunities in Two Large-Scale Pittsburgh Projects.” Preservation Education and Research.
• City Planning. Director of City Planning. Riverfront Zoning.
• Publication. “Complexity and Contradiction in the Transformation of Pittsburgh’s Riverfronts.” River Cities.
• Success Looks Different Now: Design and Cultural Vitality in Lower Manhattan.
• Beyond the Edge, New York’s New Waterfront.

Housing and Mobility

• “Value and Equity” Dialogue. Climate Change and the Design of the Built Environment.” Panelist/Published Dialogue.
• “Better Boulevard Analytics. New Directions in Local Mobility.” Co-PI.
• “New Local Mobility:  Local Improvements for Communities in the Region.” Co-PI.
• Team Member/Contributor to Report: “Redefining Regional Highway Corridors: Strategic Design Guide: Opportunities for Design, Transportation, Economic Development, and Governance.”
• “Digital Innovation and the Future of Mobility in Cities.” Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe Leadership Retreat. Speaker. Rome.
• National Summit on Design & Urban Mobility. American Architecture Foundation. Organizer and panelist for national summit regarding changing mobility in cities.
• City Planning, Planning Director, Pittsburgh. City team co-lead. Inclusionary Zoning Committee.
• City Planning, Task Force Cochair. Pittsburgh Affordable Housing Task Force.