![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://arcata1.com/mig-city-planning-and-design-communities-can-plan-their-own-futures/&media=https://arcata1.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MIG-San-Pablo-Avenue-Specific-Plan-1200x650.jpg&description=MIG is a design and planning firm with over 200 employees in 14 locations, founded in 1982. "We believe that the environment around us has a profound impact on our lives. We plan, design and sustain environments that support human development." "We are a community of designers, planners, engineers, scientists and storytellers engaging, involving and acting with people in creative problem solving."){kind=link}
“We believe that the environment around us has a profound impact on our lives. We plan, design and sustain environments that support human development.”
MIG is a design and planning firm with over 200 employees in 14 locations, mostly in the Western US, including offices in Berkeley, Sonoma, and Portland. They were established in 1982. “We are a community of designers, planners, engineers, scientists and storytellers engaging, involving and acting with people in creative problem solving.”
If you find this synopsis of the work of MIG interesting and valuable please contact me (Fred at Arcata1.com) to discuss your views.
- “What if communities did the planning?”
- “How do we create more vibrant and inclusive downtowns?”
- “What can we do to create truly safe streets?”
- “How can love create a park?”
- “What makes the world wonderful?”
From their website:
Human-Centered Environments
Creating user-friendly, human-centered environments is part science and part art. Our practice areas broadened into collaborative teams that intensely analyze existing conditions and the functional dynamics of social spaces. Creative built-environment solutions result in a “sense of place” that fosters social equity and environmental sustainability.
We believe:
- Communities can plan their own futures.
Inclusive and participatory planning always results in better policies, projects and programs. - The world needs an ecological perspective.
Beautiful and carefully designed environments require holistic, evidence-based research and analysis. - Great projects work for everyone.
Thriving and accessible communities improve everyone’s lives. - Elegant design inspires new thinking.
Design is not our end goal—our end goal is to connect people to each other. - Every project should advance racial and social equity.
Bringing diverse communities and perspectives together promotes shared prosperity and well-being. - All work must be context driven.
Great places reflect the community’s culture, history, geography—and its aspirations.
The goal, simple: create a model for low-carbon, climate-resilient development that sustainably and equitably enhances the community.
A public/private partnership came together to create a mixed-use research and development innovation district that can be a catalyst for economic growth in the region, the Nishi Gateway Sustainable Innovation District. The project, located adjacent to both UC Davis and the city of Davis, includes up to 650 residential units, 325,000 square feet of employment-generating research and development space, 20,000 square feet of commercial space and nearly 14 acres of community parks and open space.
With this district blossoming out underutilized and undeveloped land adjacent to the campus, the illustrative style adopted a soft aesthetic, relying on a robust digital model to explore the various elements of the design. The site was designed with bicycles as the primary transportation mode, with a fully separated bicycle expressway that flows through the entire project and connects it to both UC Davis and downtown Davis—without a single street crossing!
MIG created the detailed programming, site design, building massing and orientation, parks and open space analysis, design guidelines, zoning, and visualization work for this creative development proposal. The unprecedented project will qualify for LEED-Platinum building design and can be both zero-net-energy and carbon-neutral.