Throughout much of Dallas’ history, urban planning was a top-down affair. Business leaders, transportation officials, and political folk drew up plans for Dallas, and those plans sat around and got haphazardly implemented. But in recent years, things like the Trinity River Project, the boulevarding of I-345, and development from Oak Cliff to East Dallas to Preston Center have seen more and more groups, developers, organizations, and citizens taking an active role in participating in the broadening dialogue around urban issues, rethinking some of the assumptions that have contributed to the shaping of Dallas as it is today.
And with that interest comes events. The latest is going on today at the Sixth Floor Museum, where AIA Dallas is hosting its 2015 Urban Summit. The theme, “Going BIG with Small Steps,” would have been anathema to the Dallas of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but it is increasingly being understood that small, incisive projects can sometimes be more profoundly transformative than large, very expensive projects like the Trinity River Park.
If you missed out on AIA’s event, then you may want to jump over and register for another event, a three week course on The New Urbanism that the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture will kick-off on September 28. Leading the seminar are a couple of familiar names, Patrick Kennedy and Monte Anderson. Find our more here.
