
Leading with vision, designing with purpose
Kristen Hall, AICP is an urban designer and city planner who specializes in complex urban infill projects in politically challenging landscapes. Her work centers on creating equitable, sustainable, and resilient communities.
Through her experience both in the US and internationally, she works across many different scales and contexts to design area plans, write guidelines, direct public outreach, lead entitlement processes, and create implementation strategies.
Her clients range from cities, private developers, institutions, and public-private partnerships and this diversity of client experience enables her to effectively lead projects which require all parties to work together. Kristen’s core area of expertise is delivering projects that call for innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and stakeholder engagement.
Vision + Design
A plan begins with a vision - collectively imagined, and expertly refined. This vision is then given form through streets, parks, and buildings: ways of moving around, places of identity kept and created. The plan is implemented through clear and purposeful design guidelines, written and understood in collaboration and with city agencies, designers, and engineers.
Hand in Hand
Engaging with communities to plan for positive transformation. How can the planning process benefit a community during the process and beyond? Who are the people most likely to be impacted by the change, and how can their voices be amplified? Especially in vulnerable communities—how can an engagement process build the foundations of a larger civic infrastructure?
Build it Better
The design process is meant to be iterative, with moments for a fresh perspective to bring critique and refinement. Important ideas may need sharpening, clarity brought, or processes streamlined. Advising on plans, design guidelines, and implementation processes, building designs for architectural consistency with design guidelines, support for entitlement strategy, and feasibility studies.