I-81 Viaduct Project Recommendations

The Syracuse Urbanism Club, the Syracuse subchapter of Congress for the New Urbanism, released a document detailing our project recommendations for NYDOT's I-81 Viaduct Project. I led this team, coordinated ideas from our organization's membership, wrote the text of the document, and developed the diagrams.

As good as I-81 plan is, more attention is needed to these key aspects

The Syracuse Urbanism Club, the Syracuse subchapter of Congress for the New Urbanism, released an op-ed about our I-81 Viaduct Project Recommendations. I co-wrote this op-ed for Syracuse.com.

"The Interstate 81 viaduct project’s community grid gets many things right. It stitches back together the broken and divided urban fabric of Syracuse, reuniting long-separated neighborhoods and enriching the experience of this city for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists alike. However, there’s always room for improvement. The Syracuse Urbanism Club strives to build access to human-centered, walkable and vibrant communities and spaces for all. So, we saw it within our mission to have numerous discussions with our members, dive into the state Department of Transportation’s designs, and suggest..."

Climate Receiver Places Project Documents

I founded and led the Climate Receiver Places Project at PLACE Initiative, coordinated the documents of the project, wrote various sections of these documents, and led the editing process. This project focuses on the use of sustainable urbanist principles to prepare communities on the receiving end of climate migration for smart growth.

PLACE Initiative is a public policy platform that operates at the intersection of climate change, urbanism, and social justice.

I-81 stop-work order a blow to Forman Park, other highway neighbors

Syracuse.com published my opinion piece on how the stop-work order on the I-81 Community Grid is harming the community around Forman Park and other areas of Syracuse.

"Forman Park in Syracuse is my favorite place in my favorite city. I couldn’t tell you exactly why, but that’s the truth. It probably has something to do with the fact that I used to live right behind the Parkview Hotel. I’ve had great memories in Forman Park. I’ve eaten lunch from Samir’s and Strong Hearts here, sat contemplatively in front of the fountain, chatted with friends, sipped tea in the evening, and enjoyed the shade of the tall trees amidst the summer heat. I’ve met amazing people in the community, imprinted footprints upon a fresh snowfall, watched a road race while listening to live musicians perform on the sidewalk, and gazed at the historic architecture of the Parkview..."

CNY can grow without destroying rural, natural places​

Syracuse.com published my opinion piece on how Syracuse and Central New York can grow without sacrificing the region's natural lands and farmlands.

"Our farmlands and natural lands are some of the greatest features that make Onondaga County a special place. Everyone here is no more than a stone’s throw away from stunning rural beauty. These places are also essential for our community’s resilience. Having local agriculture and natural lands helps ensure that we’ll always have plentiful food and a thriving ecosystem here in Central New York. This is an important piece of our economy, too.

​However, times are changing here and we may lose this advantage, this attribute..."

Resiliency in Real Estate: Fine-Grained Urbanism and Small Building Footprints

EPArchitalk Podcast Episode 8​
I was invited to speak about my work at PLACE Initiative for an episode of AIA New York State's emerging professionals podcast. "​In alignment with July’s Visibility Campaign, Community is Strength, Talisha interviewed Baxter Hankin, graduate student of real estate development at NYU, originally from Connecticut. He received a degree in architecture from Syracuse University in 2020 and worked at Robert A. M. Stern Architects. Given his time spent in Syracuse, Baxter has long been considering what it would take to prepare potential climate receiver places for the future. This prompted him to found the Climate Receiver Places Project at PLACE Initiative, where he both manages this project and serves on PLACE Initiative's board."

CREative Talks Podcast Episode 94
Minja Yan of CREative Media and the Vegas Business Digest invited me back to her podcast. "​In this episode, I invited my friend Baxter Hankin to talk about his Climate Receiver Places Project for the Place Initiative organization. Climate receiver places are communities with lower climate-related risk, well-situated to receive climate migrants. We talked about the commercial real estate industry can help build more places people thrive."

Featured Guest Roundtable: Baxter Hankin of PLACE Initiative
Annika Lundkvist of Pedestrian Space hosted a discussion in which I presented and answered questions about the Climate Receiver Places Project, which I founded and for which I am the first project manager.

Articles in Public Square about Climate Receiver Places

Multiple articles have been written in the Congress for the New Urbanism's Public Square journal about the Climate Receiver Places Project, which I founded and for which I am the first project manager. These articles include What Cities will Receive Climate Migrants? and Receiver Places: Planning for Climate Migration.

NYC Walkability Rating
Annika Lundkvist of Pedestrian Space hosted a discussion in which I rated the walkability and transit of New York City, and spoke briefly about an upcoming roundtable event about the Climate Receiver Places Project.

Climate Receiver Places Webinar
The Congress for the New Urbanism hosted a webinar in which some of the leaders of PLACE Initiative, including Matt Lambert, Garlynn Woodsong, and me. We presented and answered questions about the Climate Receiver Places Project, which I founded and for which I am the first project manager.

CREative Talks Podcast Episode 61
Minja Yan of CREative Media and the Vegas Business Digest hosted me for a discussion on the history of urbanism, human-focused community design, affordable housing, and other topics. In this episode, we looked at these issues from the perspectives of the design and real estate industries.

​A Vision for Syracuse, After the I-81 Viaduct

Robert Steuteville of the Congress for the New Urbanism wrote an article about the 15th Ward North Project in CNU's Public Square journal. Here, he discussed this vision as an important step in the process for Syracuse to craft an optimal future for this neighborhood and the area around the soon-to-be removed I-81 Viaduct that divides the city. 

Affordable & Green Housing in Syracuse's Community Grid
This presentation was hosted by Greening USA, an organization focused on the issue of sustainable communities in Syracuse, NY. The event description is below.

​"As Syracuse nears a likely teardown of the I-81 Viaduct, the replacement of this divisive structure with the Community Grid’s interconnected streets opens up a vast array of opportunities for affordable housing and other endeavors. We’ll discuss ways of city building, policy, and infrastructure that have the potential to create a more equitable, vibrant, and resilient city for all. Ideas such as housing diversity, usage of resources, walkability, subsidization, maintenance, connectivity, and urban design will be at the forefront of this conversation. The presentation will be accompanied by visuals including those from Baxter Hankin’s 2020 thesis at the Syracuse University School of Architecture, titled “15th Ward North: A Neighborhood Design to Reconnect Syracuse.”

When I-81 Comes Down, Smart Development can Recapture 15th Ward’s Vibrancy

For over a half-century, a massive void has plagued Syracuse’s core. This city has been disjointed since the implementation of urban renewal, slum clearance and the Interstate 81 viaduct. These actions decimated the 15th Ward neighborhood. The main area of this ward extended from Montgomery Street to University Avenue, and from East Water Street to East Adams Street. A great injustice was done to the close-knit communities of impoverished Black and Jewish peoples that lived here, their local businesses and institutions. An injustice was also done to the whole city, in severing the pedestrian connection between surrounding neighborhoods, including University Hill, Downtown, the Near East Side, Hawley-Green and South Side...

Thesis Document

​This thesis argues in favor of walkability at the scale of the city, neighborhood, block, street, space, building, and detail. Walkability is a condition that allows for interesting and useful walks on a daily basis. This is created from a mix of strategic, planned civic conditions, and an urban fabric of unplanned, fine-grained, bottom-up developments. The walkable city is necessary in terms of human experience, sustainability, and connectivity. The interesting aspect of the walk is determined by parallax and the picturesque.

This undergraduate thesis at the Syracuse University School of Architecture was completed in May of 2020.
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Portfolio

This portfolio outlines the major works of design also listed on the Work page of this site.

A Divided Syracuse: The Future of an Urban Highway

In the 1950s and 1960s, the 15th Ward of Syracuse, New York was destroyed. At first, this neighborhood adjacent to downtown was extensively gutted as part of the city’s slum clearance program. Then, the state decided to run an elevated highway, Interstate 81, through the heart of the city. More buildings were destroyed, and more residents were displaced. This cut the neighborhood in half despite opposition from the city’s government and residents ...