Art-o-mat in the ‘Cloud
Recently, a group of us from Lakota were in St. Cloud, Minnesota, kicking off a Comprehensive Placemaking process. It was an intense, but great, week. We met with a diverse spectrum of people through a range of formal and informal settings. For much of the week we were camped out in a vacant storefront on... Read More
Categories: Ideas + Research, Project Stories
Challenges and Opportunities of Integrating “Green” into Ordinances
As the desire to incorporate sustainable initiatives into homes, businesses and developments grows, local governments often find that their ordinances did not anticipate these new practices. While certain practices require completely new language, others—such as rain barrels and light shelves—may be restricted by unintentional barriers within existing ordinances. Daniel Grove, Lakota associate principal, will present... Read More
Categories: Awards + Accolades, Ideas + Research
Mastering the Main Street Revitalization Approach
The grassroots Main Street Four-Point Approach, developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has helped revitalize traditional commercial districts in small towns, suburbs, and urban neighborhoods across the country over the last three decades. Lakota vice president, Nick Kalogeresis, who spent 10 years working for the National Trust Main Street Center as a program... Read More
Categories: Ideas + Research, In The News, Project Stories
Transit-Oriented Downtown Evanston
Abutting Chicago’s North Side, Evanston has developed a reputation as a desirable, transit-oriented community that promotes economic growth without compromising its unique sense of place. For the APA’s National Planning Conference being held in Chicago from April 13-17, Kevin Clark, Lakota Group vice president, will give a tour of Evanston’s mixed-used downtown and will talk... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research, In The News
Reinvigorating Oak Park through Public Investment
What is the long-term value of investing in high-quality public spaces? And what impact do public infrastructure improvements have on private investment and placemaking? Daniel Grove, associate principal at The Lakota Group, and Scott Freres, principal/president, will be giving a tour of historic Marion Street in Oak Park for the National American Planning Association Conference... Read More
Categories: Awards + Accolades, Ideas + Research, In The News, Project Stories
Frank Lloyd Wright and Survey Serendipity
I’ve spent most of my adult life living in Oak Park, Illinois, that well-known Chicago suburb celebrated for being the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway and the home of that other distinguished gentleman, Frank Lloyd Wright, who designed a number of his Prairie School homes and buildings in the community during the first couple of decades... Read More
Categories: Awards + Accolades, Ideas + Research
A Few Brews
Just before the holidays, a few of us at Lakota got together at my house to eat some pizza and brew a little beer. It was a fairly cold night to be brewing on my back deck, but with a few layers and a few…umm, beverages, we were able to stay warm and complete several... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
My Ideal Urban Design/Planning Bookshelf
In response to one of 2012’s big holiday gifts for bibliophiles, My Ideal Bookshelf, in which various leading cultural figures provide a list of their favorite books, I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon and offer up my own personal list. However, in the spirit of this blog and for the sake of brevity (I... Read More
Categories: Ideas + Research
Happy Holidays!
This photo was taken by Daniel Grove, associate principal at The Lakota Group. The image was taken in the Pleasant District of historic downtown Oak Park, Ill., where The Lakota Group did the streetscape design using a rich variety of materials, such as natural stone, brick street/sidewalk paving, custom site furnishings, a central water feature,... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Project Stories