Barbara Faga
Barbara Faga, FASLA, is a principal and executive vice president of EDAW, an international landscape design and planning firm.
Contributed 6 posts
Ms. Faga is an urban planner, author, and speaker with over 30 years experience on large urban projects including Garibaldi Repubblica in Milan, the Redevelopment Plan and Tax Allocation District (TAD) for the Atlanta BeltLine, a 25-mile ring of rail right-of-way in downtown Atlanta; Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta; Diagonal Mar Parc, Barcelona; Wharf District Park of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the downtown park over the $15B Big-Dig in Boston; the Tampa Riverwalk master plan; South Beach and Ocean Drive neighborhoods urban design/streetscape and Indian Creek Greenway--$50M in construction cost, Miami Beach; the Carter Presidential Center, Atlanta; Disney’s Celebration, FL; Schuylkill River master plan, Philadelphia, PA; Lancaster Avenue redevelopment, Fort Worth; and West Peachtree Street in Atlanta.
Barbara chaired EDAW’s board of directors from 1996 through 2005. Her book, Designing Public Consensus: the Civic Theater of Community Participation for Architects, Landscape Architects, Planners, and Urban Designers (2006) was released in March 2006, and she is an editorial board member and contributing editor for Landscape Architecture Graphic Standards, (2006), both published by John Wiley & Sons. Barbara is a contributing author to Rebuilding Urban Places After Disaster, UPENN Press (2007). She received the distinguished alumni award in landscape architecture, Michigan State University in 1998 and was named one of the top 15 women changing the world of architecture by DesignIntelligence magazine in 2004.
Barbara has conducted hundreds of public meetings, served as a board member and chaired several environmental, professional, and retail associations and speaks regularly in the U.S., Europe and South America on urban issues for professional associations, public agencies, and universities. She has directed complex teams on large, time-sensitive, and award winning projects including downtown revitalization, waterfront developments, parks, land management, and housing and community development plans. She has worked in the U.S., South America, the Middle East,and Europe and as in-house urban designer with the cities of Atlanta, Georgia and Alexandria, Virginia.
Two Things People Hate: Density and Sprawl
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">We’ve been conducting public meetings for years. And it used to be easier. Present the plan. Discuss the plan. Talk about how your plan is better for the neighborhood/community/city/region and provide the conclusion. But things have changed.</font> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font> </p>
A Guide to Taser-Free Public Meetings
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">We all saw it on the Internet—the fellow at a public meeting being hauled away from the microphone before getting wrestled to the floor and tasered during a Q&A with John Kerry. Fortunately, silencing argumentative speakers with a taser is not a common occurrence at most public meetings. While I might confess that there have been meetings where, in retrospect, one might have secretly wished one was armed with a stun gun, facilitators generally try to avoid confrontation. Yet there’s no denying that sometimes people show up at public meetings looking for a fight, begging for outrage, and hoping to irritate and inflame.
'Civic Theater' at Its Best
<font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Like many others, I tuned into the CNN/YouTube debate a few weeks ago. As a firm believer in citizen involvement, to the point of recently writing a book* full of case studies of public process in action, I found CNN’s broadcast of real people with real questions in real time to be utterly fascinating. The public taking hold of technology, influencing candidates with their frank questions, and getting answers that sounded less scripted and on message—it was a sight to see. YouTubers’ questions of the nine Democratic candidates were succinct and to the point. And no, I did not hear the other 3,000 submitted questions, but the ones that aired on live TV were brilliant. Anderson Cooper even quipped that it might be the end of newscasters.</font></font>
A Tale of Two Public Processes
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Over the last few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to attend public meetings in Europe and the American South. I find public meetings to be an entertaining challenge. Let’s face it, a public meeting is always a gamble. You’re at the mercy of whoever shows up and whatever they perceive about the project. You have to think on your feet and make quick decisions to guide the process, without looking like I’m-in-control-here-Alexander-Haig.</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font> </p>
Pulling Up Stakes On The 'Good Old Days'
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The 1950’s and 1960’s were boom times for planning and building in the northeastern United States. Projects were designed and built seemingly overnight. For those who idolize Edmund Bacon (Philadelphia's director of city planning from 1949 to 1970) and Robert Moses (New York City’s master builder from 1924 to 1968), that was the time to plan and design and implement and build --quickly. </font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font> </p>