David Dixon Launches Independent Practice to Shape a Better Urban Future—For Cities and Suburbs Alike
Updated: 5 hours ago
David Dixon Urban brings extensive, award-winning experience to empower cities and suburbs in managing change to enhance livability, economic opportunity, resilience, equity, and shared community.
Award-winning urban designer and planner David Dixon, FAIA, has launched David Dixon Urban, an independent consulting practice to support cities and suburbs in envisioning and achieving better urban futures. The firm’s services extend from providing a day of advice to leading interdisciplinary teams. David brings a national perspective and extensive expertise in urban transformation, downtown revitalization, mixed-use development, suburban reinvention, and community-centered planning.
After founding and leading award-winning planning and urban design practices at Stantec and Goody Clancy, David’s new practice will provide greater flexibility in collaborating with planning and design firms, public agencies, developers, and civic leaders to address the challenges and opportunities reshaping cities and suburbs.
Building on a Legacy of Urban Transformation
Throughout his career, Dixon has helped shape some of North America's most significant urban and suburban transformations, contributing to projects that have unlocked billions of dollars in investment. Central to his work is the creation of “five-minute places”—walkable neighborhoods where diverse people want to live, work, play, interact, innovate…and invest.
His signature projects have included leading New Orleans’ Post-Katrina Master Plan; downtown plans for Albany NY, Asheville NC, Birmingham AL, Memphis TN, and Wichita KN together with the initial vision for a 9-million square foot expansion for Tampa FL; reinvention of Kendall Square (Cambridge) and Kanata North (Ottawa) as globally recognized innovation ecosystems; creation of walkable mixed-use downtowns in suburban Dublin, Ohio and Sandy Springs, Georgia; and reinvigoration of civic spaces through Boston’s Charles River Esplanade Plan and citywide parks and public realm plans for Fort Worth and Miami.
David is also an accomplished author and contributor to influential books on urban design and suburban transformation, including Urban Design for an Urban Century (co-author, Wiley) and Suburban Remix (co-editor, Island Press). His forthcoming book, In Walking Distance: How 5-minute Neighborhoods Are Reinventing Downtown (Princeton University Press/Island Press imprint), explores the imperatives and opportunities shaping downtown’s new future emerging from the pandemic.
His contributions have earned national recognition, including the American Institute of Architects’ Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture and induction into Architect Magazine’s Hall of Fame “as the person we call to ask about cities.”
“My goal is to inspire and support colleagues, clients, and communities in embracing transformational change—creating vibrant, walkable ‘five-minute places’ where diverse people want to live, work, play, interact, innovate, and invest." — David Dixon, FAIA
Helping Communities Navigate a New Era of Change
Cities and suburbs face unprecedented economic, demographic, technological, mobility, and environmental changes. These forces are reshaping the context for how communities should plan going forward as they seek to face imperatives and unlock emerging opportunities amid increasingly constrained public resources.
David Dixon Urban will help clients navigate these changes to identify transformative opportunities and connect compelling visions with achievable implementation strategies. The practice emphasizes celebrating each community’s enduring legacy while adapting the accelerating pace of change.
A Collaborative Approach to Creating Lasting Impact
David Dixon Urban operates as a flexible, senior-level advisory practice. As appropriate, David looks forward to collaborating with planning and design firms, developers, public agencies, and civic leaders to strengthen project visions, guide urban design strategies, engage stakeholders, and help teams pursue and deliver transformative outcomes.
His collaborative approach connects ambitious ideas with practical solutions that create lasting economic, social, and community value. Through these partnerships, David will advance vibrant, walkable urban and suburban environments that bring diverse people, activities, and opportunities together within easy reach.
Inspiring New Perspectives Through Speaking and Thought Leadership
David has a long history of offering keynote addresses and participating in conference presentations, panel discussions, professional forums, and other speaking engagements. An experienced speaker and published author, he shares fresh perspectives and real-world lessons from his extensive work transforming cities and suburbs across North America.
His presentations explore the emerging forces reshaping communities and the new strategies these forces unlock for creating more walkable, diverse, inclusive, and prosperous places. Recent topics have included downtown revitalization, suburban transformation, innovation ecosystems, mixed-use development, walkable density, and the future of urban design.
Designing a Better Urban Future
The launch of David Dixon Urban offers new opportunities to build on David’s extensive experience while embracing new partnerships and emerging challenges. His mission remains rooted in a conviction that humanist planning and urban design can strengthen communities, celebrate diversity, expand opportunity, and improve everyday life.
Through strategic consulting, collaborative partnerships, and thought leadership, David Dixon Urban will help shape the next generation of vibrant, resilient, and inclusive cities and suburbs. By championing “five-minute places” that connect people to everyday needs, opportunities, and one another, the practice is guided by a simple but powerful vision: "designing a better urban future."
Explore David Dixon Urban to learn more about David’s experience, projects, publications, speaking engagements, and opportunities for collaboration.
