The Placemaking Conference is a biennial event inviting students, advocates, professionals, and civic leaders to learn from leading experts on topics and techniques in community development. The event is held at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, and has drawn attendees from sixty Oklahoma counties and 14 states.

The 2023 Placemaking Conference will take place Monday, March 20th, 2023. Read more about the conference’s program and speakers below.

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Registration – $40

Registration includes attendance at all conference sessions.

Reception – (Sold Out)

Social reception to follow. Limited quantity.

Bus from Tulsa + Reception – $30

Charter bus transportation departing from OU-Tulsa. Includes reception.

More Info Below.

OU Student Registration – $0

Complimentary Student Registration is free thanks to sponsors and donors.

Schedule

View the details of each session below. Complete speaker biographies are found beneath the schedule. All sessions are hosted in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall at Catlett Music Center (Map).

Speakers

Allison Quinlan

Owner, Flintlock LAB

Alli Thurmond Quinlan is an architect, landscape architect, and small infill developer. She founded and runs Flintlock Ltd Co (a multi-disciplinary design practice), Flintlock Development (an urban infill real estate development company), and Matchlock Lt Co (a historic preservation development company) in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She also served on the Fayetteville Planning Commission and the Construction Board of Appeals.

Alli grew up on a large working cattle ranch in western Oklahoma and believes strongly in being hands-on in your farm. She believes that small developers have the potential to be advocates for their neighborhoods, leading the redevelopment of communities in a way that protects and includes long time residents while welcoming new, diverse neighbors. As part of this approach, she recently completed a tactical urbanism project to make walking to the community center easier for neighborhood kids, located nearby to Flintlock Development’s South St Cottages.

Working as in a range of roles (architect, land planner, owner, developer, and city administrator) over a wide variety of development projects has taught Alli to cut through the voodoo of pro formas and zoning / building code to create beautiful, lovable, walkable projects that make sense for communities and make money for investors. Her work solo and with the University of Arkansas Community Design Center has been honored with national and international awards from the Congress for New Urbanism, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Institute of Architects, Architizer, and the American Planning Association.

Fernando Costa, FAICP

Assistant City Manager, City of Fort Worth

Fernando Costa serves as an assistant city manager for the City of Fort Worth, currently overseeing a group of three departments: Police, Neighborhood Services, and Diversity and Inclusion.  He also serves as a part-time faculty member at the University of Oklahoma.  Before accepting both jobs in 2008, Fernando worked for ten years as Fort Worth’s planning director, eleven years as planning director for Atlanta, and eleven years as a planner for the Middle Georgia Area Planning and Development Commission.  He studied civil engineering and city planning at Georgia Tech and served as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Fernando enjoys serving on the boards of many professional and community organizations.  He currently serves as a Global Governing Trustee and member of the Americas Executive Committee for the Urban Land Institute.  He lives in Fort Worth with his wife, Ann.

Jane Jenkins

Principal, Jane Jenkins Resources

Jane Jenkins served as the President and CEO of Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership from 2009-2023. Jane came to DOKC after serving in a similar capacity in Boulder, Colorado for nine years.  She has recently formed a consulting company, Jane Jenkins Resources and is currently working with the Charleston Downtown Alliance in Charleston, SC to launch a Business Improvement District on King Street. 

With over 37 years of experience in downtown revitalization and management, Jane is an internationally recognized speaker and expert on urban issues. She is a former Chairman for the International Downtown Association Board of Directors and has served on numerous local and national boards throughout her career. 

An experienced speaker and trainer, she has worked as a panelist and team member for the American Institute of Architects, the International Downtown Association, the National Main Street Center, and the Urban Land Institute.  In 2014, Jane earned accreditation from the Congress for New Urbanism and she serves as a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Place Management in Manchester, England.

In 2022, Jane was recognized by the International Downtown Association as an Inspired Leader at the annual conference in Vancouver, BC

She holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University North Texas in Denton and an undergraduate degree from Oral Roberts University. A former high school educator, Jane was teacher of the year at Union High School in Tulsa in 1982. 

Kia Weatherspoon, CID, NCIDQ, ASID, D.F.A.(hc)

President, Determined by Design

The most decorated black interior designer of a generation. Kia Weatherspoon, NCIDQ, ASID, D.F.A (h.c) has spent the last 15 years defying every design stereotype. The most damaging—interior design is a luxury reserved for a few. Her voice, advocacy for Design Equity™, and design practice have shifted the narrative, making interior design a standard for all. Kia is challenging the lack of these standards in economically challenged communities. Her voice, presence and leadership have created ripples, prompting housing developers, agencies, and industry partners in economically challenged communities to not just take notice of her work—but to do better. She is the design voice of impact and change.

A design industry advocate and educator in business leadership, equity, and diversity. Kia is the most decorated black interior designer of her time having been recognized as ICFF Design of the Year, has an Honorary Doctorate from New York School of Interior Design, and ASID National Design for Humanity recipient, a HIP Designer for Good by Interior Design Magazine, CREW Washington, DC Raise Your Voice Awardee, a part of the Washington Business Journal’s 40 under 40 Class and the International Interior Design Association Luna Textile/Anna Hernandez Visionary Award recipient, and among many others.

Kia is adamant change is possible when difficult conversations happen. She has them every day as a female leader of color, speaker, educator, and mentor who exemplifies what’s possible for those who are determined by design.

Kia Weatherspoon has also been recognized during this conference by support of the Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture.

Melody Warnick

Author, This is Where You Belong and If You Could Live Anywhere

Mukul Malhotra

Principal & Director of Urban Design, MIG, Inc.

Urban Designer Mukul Malhotra develops innovative and equitable solutions for the new American City.  As a Principal and Director at MIG, Inc., his award-winning designs have created thriving downtowns and historic districts as well as livable new communities and university campuses. His work has inspired urban revitalization, multimodal connectivity, sustainability, community inclusivity, and preservation of historic and neighborhood character. He is co-author of the Streets Reconsidered: Inclusive Design for the Public Realm.

Trinity Simons Wagner

Executive Director, Mayors’ Institute on City Design

Trinity Simons has served as the executive director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) since 2012. In this role, she works with mayors across the country on the nation’s most pressing urban planning and design challenges. She speaks about the intersection of design and politics at universities, events, and symposia across the country.

During MICD sessions and throughout the year, Trinity adds to her deep understanding of mayors’ challenges and needs, forming long-standing relationships with local leaders around the country. She elevates the profile of the Institute and maintains a deep bench of design professionals eager to serve as Resource Team members, connecting mayors to critical issues of urban development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the Institute’s transition to serving mayors in a virtual environment, including the creation of new program offerings, such as Mayors’ Virtual Seminars, MICD Alumni Technical Assistance, and the MICD Just City Mayoral Fellowship (in partnership with the Just City Lab at the Harvard GSD). Under her leadership, in 2021, MICD was awarded the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Founders’ Award, its highest honor for organizations.

Trinity has a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arkansas and a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Transit from OKC

Via EMBARK, board Norman Express at Downtown Transit Center Bay R at 7:34 a.m. Arrive Brooks Street Station at 8:12 a.m. 15-minute walk to venue. Pay for your ride and get route information from these smartphone apps.

Transit in Norman

EMBARK operates transit routes throughout Norman to the OU campus: Norman Bus Routes

Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer

Amtrak offers daily train service to Norman. The station is a 20-minute walk or 5-minute bike from the venue. Trains southbound from Oklahoma City arrive 8:47 a.m. daily. Trains northbound from Fort Worth, Gainesville, Ardmore, Pauls Valley, and Purcell arrive nightly at 8:50 p.m.

Heartland Flyer Schedules

Please enjoy videos from past conferences.

2017

Mayor Jim Brainard

Victor Dover

Toni Griffin

Patrick Kennedy

Fred Kent

Mike Lydon

Susan Silberberg

Marcus Westbury

2013

Dan Burden

Sid Burgess

John Cock

Hank Dittmar

Ellen Dunham-Jones

Ron Frantz

Richard Jackson

Ethan Kent

Christopher Leinberger

Jason Roberts

Donovan Rypkema

Jeff Speck