What we do: Leadership - Mike Lydon, CNU-A - The Street Plans Collaborative - Better Streets, Better Places. New York Miami

Mike Lydon is Principal of The Street Plans Collaborative. Before launching the firm in 2009, Lydon worked for Smart Growth Vermont, the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, and Ann Arbor’s GetDowntown Program. From 2006 - 2009 Lydon worked for Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company (DPZ), an international leader in the practice of smart growth planning, design, and research techniques. At DPZ Mike worked extensively on Miami 21, the recipient of the American Planning Association’s 2011 National Planning Excellence Award, and contributed to several other research initiatives and smart growth projects.

As a planner, writer, and advocate, Mike’s work has appeared in or been featured by CNN Headline News, Planetizen, Grist, Utne Reader, Next American City Magazine, New Urban News, Planning Magazine, Streetsblog, the Miami Herald, the El Paso Times, and The Village Voice, among other publications.

Mike collaborated with Andres Duany and Jeff Speck in writing The Smart Growth Manual, published by McGraw-Hill in 2009, and honored by Planetizen as one of the top ten planning books of 2010.

A founding member of the New England Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), a Board Member for CNU New York, and a steering committee member of the Next Generation of New Urbanists, Lydon remains active in both local and national planning, design, and smart growth advocacy issues. He also speaks regularly at trainings and conferences on the topics of smart growth, planning and social media, complete streets, tactical urbanism, and active transportation.

Mike remains a regular contributor to Planetizen and is a founding co-editor of A Living Urbanism, a journal chronicling the ever-changing built environment. He was also selected in 2009 as one of 34 Urban Vanguards by Next American City magazine. Mike is the primary author of The Open Streets Project and Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action, Long-Term Change, two research efforts contributing to Pattern Cities, a project about cities and the ideas they incubate.

While living in Miami Mike served as a member of the City’s Bicycle Action Committee, where he helped spearhead the creation of the city’s first Bicycle Action Plan, and the formulation of a monthly open streets initiative, entitled Bike Miami Days. He currently serves on an Executive Committee for Transportation Alternatives—one of the country’s leading active transportation advocacy organizations, based in New York City and is an advisor to the Bicycle Coalition of Maine.

Mike received a B.A. in American Cultural Studies from Bates College and a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan. Mike is a CNU-Accredited Professional.

- "Land Use Planning: Routine Inclusion of Bicycling and Walking in New Developments," Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals Webinar, February 15th, 2012

- "Tactical Urbanism: Testing Livability Improvements Before Investing in Infrastructure," Greenprints Conference, March 7 - 8, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA

- "48x48x48: How to Turn Your Downtown Around in 2 Days and for Less Than $2,000," 2012 National Main Streets Conference, April 1 - 4, 2012 Baltimore, MD

- "Tactical Urbanism" American Planning Association's National Planning Conference, April 14 - 17, Los Angeles, CA. Details to follow...

Project: Allentown, Pennsylvania, Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvement Corridor Plan

Project: GrowSmart Rhode Island Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning Workshop Trainings

- “Miami and the 21^st Century,” Michigan APA student Chapter Conference, Detroit, MI, February, 2007.

- “Three Generations of Sustainability in the Work of Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company,” International Making Cities Livable Conference, Santa Fe, NM, June, 2008.

- “L.O.S. or B.S?” Annual Congress for the New Urbanism New England Chapter Conference, Portsmouth, NH, April, 2009.

- “On Two Wheels: A Miami Bicycle Master Plan Presentation,” APA Gold Coast Chapter Luncheon, August 2009.

- “Creating A Bicycle-Friendly Providence,” Providence, RI, September, 2009.

- "Introducing the Bicycle Module," SmartCode Retreat New Town St. Charles, MO February 2010

- "Smart Location and Linkage" Vision Long Island L EED- ND Conference, Sustainability Institute at Molloy College, Farmingdale, NY March 23, 2010

- "Innovation and the Built Environment," and "Taming the Car Culture," Creative Cities Summit - Lexington, KY, April 7-9, 2010

- "Retrofitting Suburbia" Westchester Land Trust / CNU New York Chapter Retofitting Suburbia Conference, May 5, 2010

- "Avenues of Prosperity: The Economic Benefit of Open Streets Initiatives" New England Bike-Walk Summit, Providence, RI, October 10, 2010

- "Driving Us Nuts: Parking, Parking Reform, and the Search for a Walkable City"

- "Planning for Non-Motorized Transportation," Moderator, Reinventing Our Places Workshop, March 11, 2011, Mt. St. Mary College, Newburgh, NY

- CNU19: Growing Local, Madison, WI June 1-4, 2011

- "Smart Growth 101-999" w/Andres Duany and Jeff Speck

- "The New Urbanism and the Bicycle: A Dialogue"

- "Sprawl Retrofit at the Micro Scale: Repairing in All Dimensions"

- "CNU New York Salon: Tactical Urbanism in New York City and Beyond"

- "DIY vs. Tactical Urbanism," w/ Aurash Khawarzad, 72 Hour Urban Action Workshop, an Urban Design Week event at P.S. 1, Queens, NY, September 17, 2011

- A Discussion with Streetfilms and Transportation Alternatives, Guggenheim Lab, New York City, October 9th, 2011. Details.

- "Social Media and Community Participation," Suffolk County Planning Conference, Brookhaven, NY, October 12, 2011. Details.

- "Tactical Urbanism: A Brief History," Tactical Urbanism Salon, a Congress of Collectives event, Flux Factory, October 15, 2011

- "Street Network Planning and LEED-ND," Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals Professional Development Seminar, Charlotte, NC, October 26th, 2011

- Americas Ciclovias Network International Congress, Medellin, Colombia, November 3, 4, 5, 6th, 2011. Details.

- Red Nacional de Ciclismo Urbano's 4th National Congress of Urban Cycling, Monterrey, Mexico, November 11, 12, 13th, 2011. Details.

- "The Role of Research in Developing a Professional Urban Planning and Design Practice," Currents in the Design and Construction of the Public Realm, University of Nebraska School of Architecture, January 19, 2012.

- "Ethics and Urban Planning," Long Island Ethical Humanist Society, Mineola, NY, January 22, 2012