ULI Washington’s Young Leaders Group and Placemaking Initiative Council Washington hosted a joint event on September 24^th, 2019, Placemaking in the Age of Instant Urbanism: How to Create Identity in New Neighborhoods & Large Scale Developments. A group of distinguished panelists from development, design and planning backgrounds provided insight to a packed house on what it takes to turn large-scale, mixed-use development projects, whether new or repositioned, into thriving destinations with strong cultural and commercial ecosystems.

The panel was moderated by Tanya Stern, Deputy Planning Director at the Montgomery County Planning Department and co-chair of the ULI Placemaking Initiative Council. She asked insightful and challenging questions about the vision, marketing, and operation of mixed-use developments, such as Bethesda Row, Downtown Columbia, and Pike & Rose. Micky Papillon, Vice President & General Manager, with Federal Realty Investment Trust spoke about his experience activating Pike & Rose through temporary art activations. Vanessa Rodriguez, Director of Marketing with The Howard Hughes Corporation shared her insight on how branding and identity are key to placemaking. Duncan Lyons, Development Leader and Design Director with Gensler, tied the various parts together, speaking to the roles design and programming plays into building and creating a sense of place that is differentiating, as well as evolutionary. ULI Members and attendees learned through the real-life examples from the panelists how retail merchandising, art, branding, outdoor space, phasing, and community interaction help to make the shift between a simple development project into an authentic and distinct neighborhood development.