Urban & Community Planning (Environmental, Landscape, Hazard Mitigation, etc.)

Planning

With a keen focus on people, we constantly seek to improve communities and create more sustainable, convenient, healthy and attractive places. Michael Baker’s team of planners, landscape architects and public engagement experts collaborate with clients and communities to design shared spaces that are safe, accessible and equitable for all. We create, visualize and communicate planning concepts as they move from an initial vision through implementation, aligned with a community’s unique vision, values and development strategy. Together, we plan the future of communities that are sustainable and that meaningfully connect people to their environment.

Trending Topic | Broadband Planning & Mapping

Project: Southwestern Pennsylvania Connected – Connectivity Roadmap

The future will be centered around connectivity, and broadband will play a critical role in the infrastructure of our connectedness – as a community, region, country, and the global economy. For southwestern Pennsylvania, future broadband connectivity has more immediate impacts on communities: enabling access to education, the workplace, neighboring cities and towns, ecommerce, and connectedness to one another. Like many regions across the United States, limited access to broadband may hinder progress in the areas of economic development, the region’s response to the global pandemic, and adoption of new transportation technologies that rely on broadband.

Michael Baker – with extensive history in planning and broadband analysis and implementation capabilities – was selected to develop a connectivity roadmap for Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission to help position the region for competitiveness and interconnectedness. Through a series of stakeholder meetings, regional engagement strategies, public awareness and outreach campaigns, branded communications plan, communications tools, visioning exercises, data analysis, GIS mapping, and other equitable studies with key constituents, including Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 Institute, and Allies for Children, the project team will identify implementable connectivity projects and associated funding sources and an actionable path forward for broadband implementation and adoption in the southwest Pennsylvania region, so that community members, businesses and local and regional agencies can be competitive on the global stage.

"We offer integrated planning capabilities across many markets, enabling us to introduce our services to clients at the earliest stage of development and provide diverse opportunities to our colleagues. The range of Michael Baker’s capabilities enables us to provide important cross-cutting services such as resiliency planning and our innovations in data analytics, engagement and visualization enable us to deliver high-quality, data-driven and relatable plans."

Niek Veraart, AICP, ASLA, ENV SP, National Planning Practice Lead

- Niek has more than 30 years of industry experience, with a focus on resilience and innovation