Renaissance Welcomes New Staff

With a range of new projects kicking off this fall, Renaissance is proud to announce several new staff members who have recently joined our growing practice. We are excited to welcome Becca Buthe, Stephen Johnson, Debora Slaski, and Allie Sinclair to our Renaissance team.

Becca Buthe, Project Manager:  Becca Buthe has joined Renaissance as a Project Manager specializing in planning, community engagement, research, and data analysis. Becca is experienced at guiding communities through technical assistance in economic development and community revitalization efforts. She also conducts quantitative and spatial analysis, and she is skilled at translating research into evidence-based advice for policy makers at all levels of government.

“I was looking for a new challenge and for a company that recognized the value of both technical and subject matter expertise in planning – and Renaissance fit that perfectly.”

Based in our Arlington office, Becca is passionate about learning new areas of planning and growing as a Project Manager with Renaissance. She says, “I was looking for a new challenge and for a company that recognized the value of both technical and subject matter expertise in planning and Renaissance fit that perfectly. I am excited to work on a variety of different projects and be exposed to different ways of thinking and solving problems.” For more, see Becca’s bio page on our website.

Stephen Johnson, Project Manager:  Renaissance welcomes Stephen Johnson as a Project Manager joining our Charlottesville Office this month.  Stephen is a Virginia native who works at the intersection of urban planning, transportation, and public transit.  He has a strong foundation in computer science and software development with a range of planning experience after working for the regional transit service Jaunt for over five years.

“After working five years helping to make transit that works, I’m excited to look more broadly at land use, transportation, and urban design to contribute towards cities that work.”

Stephen will continue to build on his transportation planning experience and will continue to advocate for real communities and real people as a Project Manager for Renaissance. “I am most excited to work on projects that are both values and outcome driven. Clever analysis and polished deliverables don’t amount to much unless they are delivering more sustainable and equitable change on the ground.” For more, see Stephen’s bio page on our website.

Debora Slaski, Planner: Renaissance welcomes Debora Slaski as a Planner in our Miami office who worked previously as a City Planner in Palm Beach County.  Debora brings a range of experience in land use planning, architecture, project management, and many other aspects of both public and private land development. 

“I joined Renaissance to work with and learn from a team of very talented professionals and because of the company’s passion and capacity for creating cities that work.”

With Renaissance, much of Debora’s South Florida work is focused in performing compliance reviews of federal and state grant processes, requirements, and monitoring reviews of participating agencies in the Florida Department of Transportation’s 5310 Triennial Review Process. More broadly, Debora says, “I look forward to working on projects that require a comprehensive approach to dealing with issues and opportunities that different cities and environments offer.” For more, see Debora’s bio page on our website.

Allie Sinclair, Graphic Designer:  Renaissance is excited to welcome Allie Sinclair as our new Graphic Designer and she’s excited to learn more about the profession and the firm that her father started back in 1999.  She says, “I love graphic design and art, and I’m very interested in learning more about city planning.  I think working as a Graphic Designer is a great opportunity to learn and balance these fields.” 

“I’m excited to learn more about integrated planning, urban design, and grow in this Graphic Designer role.”

Allie is a Florida native, and she is based in Winter Park about 15 minutes by car to downtown Orlando.  “Downtown Orlando is one of my favorite places in Florida because it is vibrant, diverse, artsy, and a bit grungy with a great concert scene, a strong community feel with brick streets, and old homes that add a certain charm too.”  We welcome Allie’s wonderful perspective on art and design, and we are glad she is bringing her vibrant design sense to Renaissance as well.

Renaissance Helps Port Tampa Bay Secure $12.6M RAISE Grant

The $12.6M New Berth 301 project will eliminate millions of truck miles and create 800 full time jobs.

Federally funded grants are one of the most effective means to help local governments modernize transportation and, in turn, spur economic growth, improve safety, and increase access to essential goods and services. Our talented team of integrated planners have assisted many local governments and municipalities in all aspects of grant writing, management, strategy, and monitoring. Earlier this year, Project Manager Amanda Chornoby, AICP co-led and -submitted a winning $12.6M Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant for a New Berth 301 at Port Tampa Bay, FL!

The New Beth 301 was among the 166 infrastructure projects to receive the latest round of RAISE grants announced by the US Department of Transportation on August 11, 2022. The project will construct a new Berth 301 at the Port Redwing facility, and it will connect Berths 300 and 302 with a 1,025-foot dock. The new berth will be capable of docking three of the largest dry bulk/multi-purpose cargo vessels simultaneously, supporting numerous industries to include food and agriculture, project cargo, phosphate, and cement. The top benefits and outcomes of this project will include:

• Eliminating almost three million truck miles, which will cut emissions, reduce roadway wear and tear, and lower crash rates;

• Increase the efficiency of shipping, which will help calm supply chain issues;

• Creating more than 800 full time jobs;

• Expanding a two-ship to a three-ship, 5M+ ton facility.

Grant Expertise

To date, Amanda has helped Port Tampa Bay secure over $30M for critical infrastructure projects.

The Berth 301 project marks that second winning federal grant that Amanda has helped secured for Port Tampa Bay. Previously, they won a 2020 Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant for $19.8 Million for a container yard project. For these efforts, Amanda has worked with Port Tampa Bay to develop a robust “win” strategy, build support from municipalities and stakeholders to champion the application, guide data analysis efforts, and draft well-organized, persuasive application content that speaks to federal program objectives with a storytelling streak. Amanda’s track record of successful grant applications stems from her knowledge of federal funding, strong project management skills, and technical knowledge of intermodal and multimodal systems in the Tampa Bay region.

“Federal grant applications require a true understanding of grant criteria,” says Amanda. “At Renaissance, we believe in the power of storytelling and aim to make sure grant projects are backed by sound data analysis but yet also are clear in their equity and sustainability goals to benefit their communities”

We are proud of Amanda for her key contributions in advancing critical infrastructure projects. The whole Renaissance team is excited to support more governments in receiving the funds they need to achieve local and regional goals – and improve the quality of life for their constituents.

Renaissance Launches TikTok Creating @citiesthatwork

Social media is proving to be an important part of everyday life. Catching up on news, sharing photos and life updates, creating, selling – it all comes back to one thing: connection. 

When it comes to social media, it seems that the usual – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn – have been slightly shadowed by the emerging newest platform: TikTok. Tik-Tok is expected to reach 1.5 billion users by the end of this year, and we are curious to learn more. To stay at the forefront of social media trends and evolving communications platforms, Renaissance created our own TikTok account in the summer of 2022 to make connections with new audiences. We are utilizing our team’s multimedia and video production expertise (and knowledge of pop culture and social media) to share our project work and make new connections around evolving topics in the urban planning industry.  

But how do planners bring their own spin to the pop culture focused and video-only dominated platform? Making these connections is simpler than you think. TikTok runs on two major categories to draw the correct audience in: correct hashtags for every user’s algorithm, and trending music. TikTok is supposed to be just that: fun. However, people are looking for more, nowadays. In addition to fun, pop culture focused content, audiences also want real insights and unique information sprinkled in. Whether it’s a quick look into how people love public squares, or a deep dive into integrated planning, the algorithm will connect the correct audience to our videos – gaining likes, follows, comments – and more importantly, shares.  

TikTok has already proved to be a powerful network for Renaissance, drawing in new and younger audiences who are curious and inspired about planning and want to learn more.  

We are excited to share our TikTok platform with you, in hopes that it will lead you to also be inspired or share ideas, or just simply enjoy the content.   

Here is the link to our TikTok page, which can be opened in a browser, or on the TikTok app on your phone / tablet.

Congratulating Joel Lehman, AICP and Zach Hanson, PTP!

Renaissance would like to congratulate two members of our team – Joel Lehman and Zach Hanson – for recently earning two of the leading credentials in the planning industry! Joel has received the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certification, and Zach has received the Professional Transportation Planner (PTP) certification.

The AICP credential is a prestigious verification of planners’ qualifications. To become AICP-certified, a planner must have relevant education and work experience, and they must pass a rigorous exam that tests their knowledge and skills of the planning field. Joel’s AICP certification is a great achievement, one that proves his mastery of the experience and skills needed to plan sustainable, multimodal, and functional communities.

Congratulations to Renaissance's next certified planners: Zach Hanson, PTP and Joel Lehman, AICP.

“I view the AICP Certification as an additional way to communicate my commitment to serving communities through practicing high-quality and ethical planning,” said Joel.

The PTP certification program is the only program that specifically addresses the work of transportation planners. Similar to the AICP certification process, becoming a PTP requires professional work experience in transportation planning and the passing of a comprehensive exam on transportation planning processes. Zach’s PTP certification illustrates his proven knowledge of – and dedication to – planning safe, equitable, and highly mobile transportation networks.

“I wanted to be PTP certified to demonstrate to clients that I am a qualified transportation professional,” Zach said. “The certification is the first step in my professional development after getting my Masters in Urban Planning. I will continue to improve my knowledge in transportation planning through professional development hours, including attending webinars, going to conferences, and continuing education credits.”

Both certifications illustrate Joel and Zach’s expertise within the planning field. Joel and Zach both possess unique skillsets that are invaluable to Renaissance. Joel specializes in multimodal transportation planning, community engagement, GIS spatial analysis, and interactive web mapping. Zach excels at transportation planning, accessibility modeling and data analysis, mapping and visualization, and traffic forecasting and engineering. We are proud of Joel and Zach’s accomplishments and their dedication to deepening their professional growth and keeping their skills sharp!

Renaissance Academy Highlight: Place Design in Context

About the Academy Session

The most recent Renaissance Academy session centered around designing in context and gave an in-depth look and how context plays an important role in place-based design. The session was led by Kathy Galvin, FAIA, whose background in architecture and place-based planning gave a unique perspective to the contextual nature of the discussion. With over three decades of experience, Kathy deftly captured the importance of context in design, and how we can apply this place based thinking at a larger scale.

Designing with Scale in Mind

Urban design sketch showing building form and urban spaces at the micro scale.

The session looked at design holistically, and identified three key scales that we as designers of urban spaces should consider:

1. Macro

2. Meso

3. Micro

At the broadest level, the macro scale takes a regional view of an area, zooming out to consider major transportation corridors and the land use in cities/towns. The meso scale zooms in slightly to the level of districts, neighborhoods, and even city blocks to help examine the organization of city centers and communities. The micro scale zooms in even further to look at building form, street design, sidewalks, and placemaking at the human level.

These relationships between the macro, meso, and micro scales are where many designs fail. Designs might work at a macro level, but when you get down to the micro level of the people that use the spaces, there could be conflicts. Looking at these three scales together and applying a contextual design methodology to consider the various challenges and opportunities at each scale, designers can create places that are beautiful yet functional at all scales.  

It was interesting to see how design is applied to the macro, meso, and micro scales, and how at Renaissance our integrated planning approach looks at all these different scales to produce holistic designs and create cities that work. Looking forward to the next Renaissance Academy!

Renaissance Academy: Cultivating a Shared Company Vision and Language

Our staff come from a range of professional disciplines.

Renaissance Academy: A Celebration of our Culture

For a small business, Renaissance brings together professionals from a number of disciplines to create cities that work. We are city planners, communications specialists, transportation planners, urban designers, data scientists, landscape architects, transportation engineers, policy wonks, and graphic designers. We recognize that we each bring our unique perspectives, expertise, and history that offer distinct value to the company – all toward the greater goal of integrated planning and busting the silos that can divide communities. What unities us is a fundamental belief that thoughtful, intentional planning and design of the built environment can improve the common good. To harness our collective mission and cultivate continual learning, we have kicked-off Renaissance Academy, a bi-weekly series of educational sessions that dig deep into best practices and our core philosophy of integrated planning.

The Renaissance Academy Vision

With our staff’s diverse backgrounds, we must speak a shared language – to build positive company culture and blend our multidisciplinary expertise to produce long-lasting, functional, and forward-thinking plans and solutions. Each Renaissance Academy session gives us intentional time to cultivate a shared company vision and language among our staff. So far, the Renaissance Academy curriculum has examined the vital importance of integrated land use and transportation planning while spanning the theory and history of cities, the tenets of transportation planning, and the urban design lens of cities. Each staff member who leads the Renaissance Academy presents the fundamentals of their practice area and domain of expertise, weaving together rich visuals and storytelling narratives.

The Renaissance Academy sessions build and reinforce a foundational understanding of integrated city planning: everything from the relationship between speed and proximity, to the problem-solving principles of place design, to different theoretical models of cities. Even for seasoned planners, there is enormous value in returning to the historical, theoretical, and practical principles of transportation planning, land use planning, and urban design. Taking a break from day-to-day project work to immerse ourselves in big-picture rumination and discourse helps rejuvenate our sense of purpose in solving the complex issues facing communities today.

Urban Sector Model

The first Renaissance Academy session introduced different urban form models common in urban planning theory.

Fixed & Moving Parts

The second set of Renaissance Planning sessions focused on the fixed and moving parts of integrated planning.

Place Design in Context

The third set of Renaissance Academy sessions examined the role of design in systematic, transformational planning.

Sharing our Perspectives

Renaissance Academy sessions inevitably (and thankfully!) prompt lively discussions among our team. Many of us express our ideas and reactions to the sessions, bringing in our diverse backgrounds and project experience (the energy of each meeting’s chat is something to behold). It is the free-flowing exchange of ideas that enriches each presentation, elevating it to a seminar-like setting.

Moreover, the act of sharing our own philosophies and worldviews on planning clarifies the relationships between the different disciplines within our team – and, in turn, helps construct a shared company language. The open-ended dialogue of Renaissance Academy sessions also fosters a workplace that nurtures energy, enthusiasm, connection, and initiative: the key components of innovation, a core guiding principle in all our projects.

In the following weeks, Renaissance Academy topics will explore urban design, data science approaches, GIS and theory-based models, storytelling content and communication platforms, engagement methods, and effective consulting and project management practices. We look forward to gathering our diverse staff to further cultivate our integrated planning practices and define the Renaissance language together.