Bio: Mr. Assefa is the senior urban designer for the City of Boulder responsible for design policies for current and long-term projects. He is in charge of the City’s Sustainable Streets & Centers program focused on implementing sustainable urban form policies for streets and centers and co-manager of the Boulder Civic Area planning. Previously, he served as director of land use and planning policy for Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, and as deputy chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley charged with advancing the Mayor’s vision of making Chicago America’s most livable city. As the senior urban designer for the City of San Francisco, he was responsible for the implementation of urban design and land use policies for transit-oriented developments, industrial area design guidelines, and guidelines for high-rise mixed-use developments for San Francisco’s downtown.
Education: Master’s in City Planning, MIT and B.A. in Architecture, the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Key Publications: • "Chicago's Green Transformation" - 2009 article for Think Magazine, a publication of the HNTB Companies • Drawings and work published in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Encontros, and The Chicago Architectural Journal • Exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Chicago Historical Society and museums in France and Portugal
Past Assignments: • Speaker on urban design, sustainable development and environmental policies at various universities including Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Notre Dame, University of Detroit, and IIT • Speaker at TAG Tallahassee forum on environmental partnerships at the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce annual conference, 2011 • Presenter and panelist at conferences including the AIA, APA, RailVolution, The Counselors of Real Estate, Chicago Architecture Foundation, and Archeworks • Panelist with former French Prime Minister Alain Juppé and Mayor David Miller of Toronto at the 2005 OECD Montreal Conference • Speaker at the Nantong, China World Mega Cities Development Forum, 2006 • Speaker on sustainable development at the National Urban Planning Institute of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2005 • Panelist at the Landscape Architecture Magazine Forum on reuse plan for Lowery Air Force Base Reuse, Denver, CO. 1996 • Participant at the Kaziemerze Forum on the development of public housing design and financing policy, City of Lublin, Poland, 1991
Bio: Marshall is the City Planning Director in Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD). The City Planning Director oversees Seattle’s comprehensive and regional planning, land use policy, neighborhood planning, urban design, and the work of the Seattle Design and Planning Commissions. Before coming to Seattle in 2006, Mr. Foster oversaw center city planning for the City of San Francisco, CA.
Education: He holds a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
Bio: Senior Planner Elaine McLaughlin works in development review for the City of Boulder’s Department of Community Planning and Sustainability. She is responsible for managing the multi-departmental review of large-scale, complex projects for consistency with the city’s adopted plans and policies. For over 25 years Elaine has served in both public and private sector planning agencies ranging from development review services for the coastal resort city of Carmel, California to working with the multi-disciplinary firms of HOH Associates of Denver, ROMA Design Group of San Francisco, and DTJ Design of Boulder. In these private sector firms, she was responsible for a comprehensive range of city planning and design projects, including master planning new neighborhoods and communities, drafting design guidelines and preparing policy plans for projects located throughout the western U.S.
Education: Bachelors degree, Landscape Architecture, Oregon State University and Masters of Urban and Regional Planning degree, University of Colorado at Denver
Past Assignments: NAIOP - Commercial Real Estate Development Association; AEP: Association of Environmental Professionals - Monterey Bay Chapter; Guest Lecturer - Cabrillo College; and Guest Lecturer - University of Colorado LEEDS School of Business
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