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Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther: Members of the City of Phoenix Planning and Development Department informally met with local developers in the AE England Building in downtown Phoenix Tuesday afternoon to get a feel for what those on the other side of city code think about current regulations and procedures. Cynthia Stotler, the assistant director of the department, opened the floor of the historic building’s spacious event room to the audience for a “listening session.” She said that in response to growing demand for a more livable urban environment in Phoenix, the City wants to ask…

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Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther reporting on Day 2 of Phoenix Urban Design Week’s Urban Tactics Symposium: The AIA Arizona office downtown hosted day two of Phoenix Urban Design Week’s Urban Tactics Symposium, which featured keynote speaker, planner and walkability expert Jeff Speck and a panel of planners, researchers and designers who presented key strategies that can help Phoenix become less autocentric and more of a socially oriented urban space. The author of “Walkable City” gave an overview of the first section of his book, laying down the case for walkability’s powerful impact on the overall quality…

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Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther: Thursday morning on the northwest corner of Camelback Road and 3rd Avenue in uptown Phoenix, the community was welcomed back to a place it hadn’t been able to open a door to or sit down in for seven years. An array of developers and local leaders ─ among them Lorenzo Perez and John Kitchell of Venture Projects, Shannon Scutari of Sustainable Communities Collaborative, Kimber Lanning of Local First Arizona and Phoenix city councilman Tom Simplot ─ announced the adaptive reuse of the locally beloved Beef Eaters restaurant building. Being rebranded as…

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July 11, 2012

Planning a Village takes, well, a village

by: Jennifer Gunther

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther: After months of negotiation between community members and the developer, the Tempe City Council approved Gracie’s Village, a new, mixed-use building that will combine Gracie’s Thrift Store with affordable housing, on June 14. An extension of Grace Community Church’s ministry, Gracie’s Village will include new retail space for the thrift store and 94 beds for qualifying residents on a two-acre lot that is just west of Apache Boulevard and McClintock Drive. Amenities include a lounge and fitness center for qualifying residents. The density and height of the new building are the…

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March 27, 2012

What you Might not have Known about Frank Lloyd Wright

by: Jennifer Gunther

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther. *Don’t miss the panel discussion tomorrow, March 28, as part of Modern Phoenix week, at the Phoenix Art Museum called Perspectives on Frank Lloyd Wright with panelists Grady Gammage, Emily Talen, Vernon Swaback, David Davis and Eric Anderson.* About one month remains for Phoenix Art Museum visitors to admire and explore the work of American architecture legend Frank Lloyd Wright. “Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century” will be on view until April 29. The name Frank Lloyd Wright appears everywhere in Phoenix. The name of the Wisconsin-native designer…

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December 21, 2011

My First Semester in Architecture School…

by: Jennifer Gunther

Tweet Today’s post is a glimpse into the world of a first year architecture student by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther. Jennifer Gunther is a design management sophomore at Arizona State University. She has written for NAU’s The Lumberjack and ASU’s own State Press, as well as for Modern Phoenix. Though she may prefer writing to drawing, architecture school will probably always loom over her future. If I could describe my first semester of architecture school in one word, I would use the adjective that was on everyone’s lips in the studio:  intense. The unique lessons of craftsmanship and spatial relationship…

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Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther: Taking the bus, hopping on the light rail and walking have been my usual means of navigating the Valley for the past two years. Every mile I have ridden or block I have walked has offered me a unique experience that driving from Point A to Point B could not. Although driving is its own pleasure, public transportation should be a desirable option for all Phoenix-area residents. It is imperative in the desert heat, which is at its most intense this time of year, that Phoenix and its surrounding suburbs reconsider…

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June 23, 2011

South Phoenix Mayoral Debate

by: Jennifer Gunther

Tweet Today’s post is by Jennifer Gunther, a young woman who was introduced to me by Modern Phoenix‘s Alison King. It turns out that Jennifer is contemplating becoming an architectural writer! Well, how wonderful is that? We need more women in the field and in general more critical thinkers and writers in the world, especially around the topic of the built environment, so kudos to Jennifer.  Jennifer and I attended the South Mountain mayoral forum on Tuesday held at South Mountain Community college and below is her recap of it. Jennifer Gunther is a Tempe native and a sophomore journalism…

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February 14, 2012

What YOU Want to See in Arizona’s Next 100 Years

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet It’s Arizona’s Centennial today, a day to celebrate the last 100 years of our state founding. For me, today’s also a great day to pause and lay claim to the future we want for our state. To that end, I asked YOU, through Facebook, Twitter, this blog and the Blooming Rock newsletter, what you’d like to see in the next 100 years in Arizona. There were definitely themes to people’s responses, and so I’ve broken them down into categories, to help us better see what’s important to people today. Here’s what you said: Renewable Energy/Solar Power: Rocco Meneguale: I…

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