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On March 20th, hundreds of planning and design professionals, civic leaders, and students gathered at the University of Oklahoma for the 5th biennial Institute for Quality Communities’ Placemaking Conference. The all-day event featured speakers working in a variety of fields, all of which contribute to community placemaking.
The event was organized by the team at the University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Quality Communities (IQC), including Director Shane Hampton, Associate Director Vanessa Morrison, and Director of Small Town Studios Ron Frantz. The IQC team invited eight speakers broke into three sessions.
IQC Director Shane Hampton spoke about the opportunities the Placemaking Conference offers, “All over Oklahoma, the IQC team meets people who are working hard to make improvements to their communities. They might be doing it as a trained professional, maybe they hold a formal position, or they may be working totally as a volunteer. We hope that the Placemaking Conference is a day that they can learn and recharge, take home ideas and stories from speakers with diverse experiences, and feel energized to continue their work at home. It’s also an opportunity for Gibbs College students and faculty to interact with the speakers and visitors to campus.”
Attendees in discussion at the conference.
OU Gibbs College of Architecture Dean Hans Butzer and University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. both offered opening remarks for the conference. They welcomed the attendees, many of whom had been to all four previous Placemaking Conferences.
The first session of the day, “Ecosystem of Communities,” included three speakers. Kia Weatherspoon, the President of the interior design firm Determined by Design, discussed what motivates her to create safe, enriching spaces in projects were design is normally not prioritized, such as low-income housing. Mukul Malhotra, Principal and Director of Urban Design at MIG, spoke about his work, giving community members a primary voice in the placemaking process. Allison Quinlan, an OU alumna and Principal of Flintlock LAB, told the crowd about her projects creating missing-middle housing in northwest Arkansas. The session was concluded by a discussion between the three speakers and IQC Associate Director Vanessa Morrison.
Kia Weatherspoon.
Conference attendees were then released for lunch, when many caught up with colleagues from across the state or made new connections with other placemaking professionals.
Following lunch, the next session included two speakers who spoke about “Belonging in Community.” Melody Warnick, the author of This is Where You Belong, spoke about placemaking actions that make residents feel more at home and connected to their community. Arti Harchekar, Principal and Founder of Joyful Urbanist, discussed designing cities to promote joy and feelings of safety. The session was followed by a discussion between Melody, Arti, and Ron Frantz, IQC’s Director of Small Town Studios.
Arti Harchekar, Melody Warnick, and Ron Frantz.
The last session of the day focused on “Leadership in City Design.” Jane Jenkins, Principal of Jane Jenkins Resources, spoke about growing as a placemaking professional and how to center the community in planning and design decisions. Fernando Costa, Assistant City Manager of Fort Worth and Gibbs College faculty member, spoke about large-scope projects and thinking big. Trinity Simons Wagner, Executive Director of Mayors’ Institute on City Design, spoke about her work with mayors and the challenges facing cities and towns today. Shane Hampton, IQC Director, ended the conference by leading a discussion between the three speakers.
Trinity Simons Wagner with Vanessa Morrison.
The Institute for Quality Communities thanks everyone who attended this years conference and hopes to welcome them back to the next Placemaking Conference in 2025.
View more photos from the event in the gallery below.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
