UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER TO HOLD TWO-DAY PLANNING WORKSHOP

FAYETTVILLE, Ark. — Philip Parsons, a planner and founder of Parsons Consulting Group (www.parsonsconsulting.com) of Somerville, Mass., will give a presentation to the University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC) students and staff, as well as members of the city planning department and city officials.

The lecture will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 22, at the Fayetteville City Hall, Room 326 and will cover the relationship between good planning and economic impact.

The case study for the presentation is the Mystic View Task Force -- a group studying the development of big box retail stores, including Home Depot, Target and IKEA, along the Mystic River in Somerville, Mass. (Visit www.the-ville.com/mysticview/ for more information about this group.) The students will spend Friday afternoon after the presentation walking around downtown Fayetteville, documenting successful and unsuccessful design elements and streetscapes.

Saturday, Feb. 23, students will present their on-going projects for the City of El Dorado and Philander Smith Neighborhood in Little Rock, focusing on their ideas for redevelopment. Parsons will work with the students to examine feasibility of ideas and look for other opportunities that may exist.

Parsons has shaped his career around issues of how space shapes community. Born and educated in England, he was surprised by the lack of sense of place in the American built environment when he came to the United States in 1968. He has recently balanced his career in master planning for educational institutions, including a stint as Dean for Planning at Harvard and an affiliation with Sasaki Associates, with active engagement in the community planning process. As a past president of the Mystic View Task Force, he has become deeply involved in issues of jobs, tax base and the creation of a livable urban environment in a historically poor neighborhood.

This is the second of a three workshop series being held this semester by UACDC. The third workshop will be held March 29 and 30, featuring Michael Pyatok, architect. The discussions will focus on affordable housing issues. Pyatok is a graduate of Harvard and Pratt Institute School of Architecture. He has been an architect and professor of architectural design for 33 years, focusing on affordable housing and community facilities. He is also co-author of Good Neighbors: Affordable Family Housing.

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