PLANNING OBJECTIVES
- Design for arts, creative, and cultural districts
- Design and implementation of urban parks, plazas, and trails
- Resilient planning, design, and watershed-by-watershed evaluation of infrastructure and design solutions
- Community engagement and fun and engaging public process through living charrettes
- Multi-modal transportation strategies and planning
- Pattern Books for small areas, neighborhoods, and character districts using custom 3D graphics that make it easy for everyone to use as a tool for development and evaluation
- Temporary pop-up parks and amenities as a way to test out design ideas and build community consensus
- Tactical urbanism and placemaking as tools to create vibrant and interactive spaces
- Planning and design assistance for developers to supplement the efforts of the Department of Planning
- Market and economic analysis for proposed project areas and project concepts; opinions of probable cost
- Strategies for revitalizing commercial centers incrementally in order to create higher-density, mixed-use developments that architecturally transition appropriately to the neighborhoods they serve.
In 2009, UDA was selected by the City of Virginia Beach to prepare strategic growth area plans along the Virginia Beach Boulevard/I-264/Transit corridor. These strategic growth areas were designated in the City’s comprehensive plan for more detailed transit-oriented planning. Each plan was developed in sequence with extensive public participation and stakeholder involvement. The plans were adopted by City Council as amendments to the city comprehensive plan and the city created the Strategic Growth Area Office to coordinate public and private redevelopment activities in the growth areas.
In 2018, WPA was awarded the contract to update the Resort Area Strategic Action Plan. In 2019, WPA and UDA teamed up once again and were awarded the urban design and architectural contract for all 8 Strategic Growth Areas in the City. We are currently working together on planning for resilient neighborhoods of the future, implementing the Resort Area Plan and adapting obsolete big box retail and strip shopping centers into mixed-use neighborhood centers.
