Meet Colin Greene: Cooper Carry’s Newest Urban Planning Leader

In recent years, real estate development has turned its focus toward improved urban environments and placemaking. In the face of societal, environmental, and technological changes, cities are intent on improving livability, resiliency, sustainability, mobility, and equity. Urban Design leader Colin Greene, Cooper Carry’s new Director of Design sat down to discuss the future of our ground plane and weigh in on how we can create more meaningful and memorable places.

Q. How do you approach design?

Design is the key element of a creative and thoughtful response to a problem. The fabric of our neighborhoods and our cities has challenges, but our shared environments – streets, sidewalks, and public spaces - represent a vast canvas for design innovation and opportunity. Design solutions should?be both strategic and tactical. Being a good designer means you know how to balance vision with your ability to listen, distill, and collaborate.

My focus from the very beginning of my career has been to consider design as the way to impact - and benefit - the most people in the most creative ways. That’s why I choose to work at the ground level – it’s where everyone interacts with the built environment.

Q. What aspect of design has seen the biggest change over the last few years?

When I began my career, I was part of the movement to restore walkability to our built environment – it’s much more sustainable to include access and mobility of every type so that people don’t have to rely on a personal vehicle to do everything. Now, walkability is, rightly so, a big part of community sustainability conversations, and there are things like WalkScore that prove that walkability adds measurable value to place. We need to keep working on better access and mobility everywhere.

There’s been an increase of attention given to the ground level use of buildings. Earlier in my career, retail uses – shops and restaurants – were forced into every ground floor of every new building in the name of creating vibrancy. But there are other ways to deliver vibrancy in the public realm that don’t add to the overbuilt index of retail space. Over-retailing is a big problem. We must move on from “retail equals vibrancy” – it’s resulted in too much of the wrong type, in the wrong places. We now know that much of the value of the ground floor of buildings lies in the ability to be flexible and to accommodate change in function.

Stepping back to a larger context, we should calibrate our urban environments to help our towns and cities remain relevant and desirable. It will be healthier for the future of our cities if our design professionals work consistently with strategists and analysts throughout the design process. At Cooper Carry, we do. My focus is on understanding community needs, designing toward a client’s development goals, and understanding the implications on their livability and context...and, of course, form and scale. By truly collaborating with quantitative specialists and technicians, we’re creating more flexible environments that can respond favorably to change.

There’s more vocal demand for memorable, rewarding, and meaningful social interactions. It’s been interesting – there has always been a thrum of “more open space” or “less congestion on our streets.” But, now people are more sophisticated in demanding the best from shared spaces – their requests are becoming more specific. People want more differentiation from place to place. Our teams are meeting that need by exploring opportunities that magnify a place’s unique character and leverage it. The global access we all have means that people are coming to expect a higher level of impactful design everywhere. But understanding a place’s uniqueness means we’re not just exporting packaged or themed designs - we’re seeking design solutions that celebrate a particular place and the community that thrives because of it.

Q. Why Cooper Carry?

Cooper Carry has a 62-year history of thoughtful and impactful design. I am thrilled to be a part of the ecosystem that integrates design specialties and recognizes that the ground level - where we interact - is so important.

The breadth of Cooper Carry’s work allows me to be involved in a wide variety of project types. Cooper Carry’s ecosystem and project lifecycle means that I get to lead upstream - at the onset of a project, as well as ensure design continuity further downstream when a project gets built and delivered. And our clients are aware that we can take projects from concept to habitation. Not everyone can do that.

The fact is that we are implementors. In every project we implement and execute, we learn. We share our stories, we work together, and we challenge ourselves as we go through the processes of making great places. It makes us all better designers and more informed practitioners.

Q. What’s next?

We’re working on several mixed-use projects in both Fairfax and Alexandria, Virginia - those projects are exciting because they embody our holistic approach from concept to implementation. We’re providing thoughtful guidance and design to the Sweet Auburn neighborhood in Atlanta - which is exciting because it has such an important part of the culture and history of the city and the nation. Having our clients tell us that they appreciate the value we bring to their projects and their processes is always great. And when the project carries forward through our architecture and other studios, we really see our ecosystem in action and the rewards of our work.

Connect with Colin here on LinkedIn by clicking on the link below and/or reach out by email at [email protected].