Nando Micale, a WRT principal in the Urban Planning and Design group, was invited to be a part of the Sustainable Cities Design Academy (SCDA), created by the American Architecture Foundation (AAF) early in 2009. The SCDA event was held in Washington, DC from September 28th through the 30th. The event brought together project teams from Baltimore, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Tallahassee as well as twelve experts in sustainable planning and design from around the country to benefit from an intensive two-day charrette focused on raising the level of design for American cities.
Nando's expertise in large-scale urban design and sustainable systems was tapped for the Milwaukee's MacAuthur Square District, which envisions a mixed-use civic district centered around a park system that connects to the city's Milwaukee Riverwalk. He was part of a multi-disciplinary team that worked with public and private stakeholders from Milwaukee to look at an area of the city that was blighted by auto-centered design, obsolete infrastructures, and poor land use and urban design decisions over the past 50 years. The team proposed a pedestrian-oriented solution that integrated best practices in stormwater management integration in street and park design, proposed programming that integrated with the city's museums and convention center, and balanced car access with transit and pedestrian amenities.
The AAF works to educate people about the power of architecture in their lives. The SCDA was developed by the AAF in partnership with the United Technologies Corporation to provide leadership development and technical assistance to local community leaders engaged in planning a sustainable building project in their communities.
