Montgomery Planners Launch Seminar Series Focusing on Great Community Design
SILVER SPRING, MD – Montgomery County planners,
looking to create more thriving, diverse communities like downtown Bethesda,
are poised to begin a seminar series exploring how to encourage high-quality
design.
Two of the seminars – on March 12 and June 25 – are open to the public.
Led
by noted architect Roger K.
Lewis, a retired local professor who was instrumental in founding the University
of Maryland’s School of Architecture, and John Carter, the Planning
Department’s new chief of urban design and special projects, the seminars will
provide opportunities for planners, urban designers, architects, landscape
architects and interested residents to learn more about urban design, landscape
architecture and the shape of buildings in Montgomery County. Lewis is
well-known locally for his weekly columns on urban design for The Washington Post.
The
March 12 public seminar will kick off an educational series for planning staff
that will run through spring. Planners will work with Lewis and Carter to
create visions of urban neighborhoods such as Fenton Street Village in Silver
Spring and Woodmont Triangle in Bethesda as well as emerging suburban centers
such as Shady Grove, White Flint and Germantown.
Lewis
will guide the staff in ways to improve design of the publicly accessible areas
– known to planners as the public realm. Planners will develop case studies
illustrating the best of their ideas using real-life examples. Throughout the
process, they will post their work on www.MontgomeryPlanning.org.
To
learn the shape of things to come, mark your calendar for the final public
seminar on June 25, which will feature planners’ case studies and offer an
opportunity for a public dialogue about planning for vibrant urban design.
WHO:
The
Montgomery County Planning Department
WHAT:
“Design
Montgomery County” public seminars
WHEN:
3-5
p.m. Wednesday, March 12
3-5 p.m. Wednesday, June 25
WHERE:
Park
and Planning Headquarters
8787
Georgia Ave., Silver Spring
