Jeffrey Levy, AIA
Urban Design and Planning succeed when the big idea is articulated through story and organized into a coherent system.
Turning Complexity into Clarity
Jeffrey Levy, AIA, is an urban designer, planner, and architect with more than twenty years of experience shaping districts, corridors, campuses, and communities across North America. His work connects urban design, planning, policy, and implementation, helping clients transform complex challenges into clear strategies and actionable frameworks.
Jeff specializes in district visioning, public realm design, design guidelines, site planning, and comprehensive planning. His experience spans mixed use redevelopment, corridor transformation, climate planning, zoning and policy analysis, and community engagement. Working across disciplines and scales, he helps teams align design ambition with regulatory realities, stakeholder priorities, and implementation constraints.
Known for translating complexity into clarity, Jeff uses analysis, visualization, and collaboration to build consensus and establish direction. Whether developing an urban design framework, a climate resilience strategy, or a comprehensive plan, his work focuses on creating practical systems that guide decision making and support lasting community outcomes.
Establishing Direction
Spatial strategy begins by revealing the systems already in motion.
I begin each project by establishing a clear reading of spatial, regulatory, environmental, and social forces, defining the conditions that shape the project. Through layered visual overlays, these forces are clarified, often revealing the most logical and effective moves.
This approach grounds creative vision in evidence. By structuring analysis before design, decisions gain clarity, credibility, and durability. The result is work that responds to context with precision rather than imposing solutions without understanding.
The Big Idea
Strong urban design begins with a clear, big idea. My work focuses on shaping that big idea, translating a client’s vision that is expressive, sustainable, and feasible to implement. My experience as a licensed architect, urban designer, and planner allows me to balance multiple considerations simultaneously, producing solutions that are intuitive, comprehensive, and grounded in reality. Planning goals, site constraints, and stakeholder priorities are synthesized into direction that gives design teams room to be creative while maintaining feasibility.
I bring clarity to complex design problems by organizing land use, landscape, public space, mobility, and built form. Through mapping and diagramming, I identify how a project can be meaningfully stitched into its surrounding urban fabric. This creates a story that helps teams articulate intent, test form, and make confident moves.
By developing and comparing multiple approaches to density, access, phasing, and public realm quality, I help teams understand implications and tradeoffs before committing to a single direction. Clear visualization supports productive discussion, sharpens design thinking, and builds alignment among clients, consultants, and internal teams.
My role often bridges planning and architecture, supporting continuity across scales and project phases. I provide enough structure to guide implementation while preserving flexibility to respond to market conditions, political realities, and evolving priorities. The result is visioning that strengthens design leadership, supports collaboration, and gives teams a logic they can carry forward with confidence.
Urban Design Visioning
Turning streets into places and public spaces into destinations.
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Public Realm & Streetscape
Turning streets into places and public spaces into destinations.
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Site Planning & Massing
Turning streets into places and public spaces into destinations.
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Design Guidelines & Urban Framework
Turning streets into places and public spaces into destinations.
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
City Planning
Turning streets into places and public spaces into destinations.
Community Outreach & Engagement
Turning streets into places and public spaces into destinations.
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Turning Complexity into Clarity
West Chatham Street Corridor Study
Cary, NC
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Selected Case Studies
Central Parkway Streetscape Guide
Cincinnati, OH
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Selected Case Studies
Riverpark North Conceptual Masterplan
Austin, TX
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Selected Case Studies
The Cotton Mill Masterplan Vision
McKinney, TX
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Selected Case Studies
Promenade 2035 Masterplan
Woodland Hills, CA
Streets and public spaces shape how cities are experienced every day. My work integrates movement, landscape, frontage, and open space into cohesive public realm systems that connect neighborhoods, activate ground levels, and support long-term urban change.
At the neighborhood and corridor scale, this work often focuses on transforming streets that prioritize vehicle movement into places that invite people to walk and engage. Strategies include rebalancing the right-of-way, strengthening edges and frontage conditions, and using landscape for traffic calming and safety, while maintaining access and functionality where required. Phasing is used deliberately, allowing targeted investments to create visible impact, build momentum, and encourage subsequent steps within a broader public realm vision.
At the district and city scale, I translate public realm vision into clear, usable frameworks. Streetscape guides and design standards provide practical direction on street sections, planting, and curbside organization, supporting consistent implementation while accommodating variation across contexts. This type of work helps cities move from aspiration to execution, aligning design quality with constructibility, maintenance, and long-term performance.
Across all scales, my strength lies in integrating streets and open space into the surrounding urban fabric. Whether activating ground floors, developing multimodal street systems, or reshaping fast corridors into main streets, I bring together human experience and technical rigor to shape places that function well and feel right. The result is public realm work that is intentional, legible, and embedded in its context, supporting both immediate use and lasting transformation.
Selected Case Studies
Let’s Shape the Future
Partner with Jeffrey Levy for visionary urban design leadership and disciplined project management that translates big ideas into coherent systems.
STORYTELLING • COHERENT SYSTEMS • SUSTAINABILITY • HEALTH