May eNewsletter

Karishma Joshi Contributes to New Book, Design for Sea Level Rise: Global Innovative Solutions

BY KARISHMA JOSHI

I am happy to share that I worked with Dr. Galen Newman, Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University, on a yearlong project to document innovative design solutions applied worldwide to mitigate sea-level rise. The book, Design for Sea Level Rise: Global Innovative Solutions is authored by Dr. Galen Newman and Zixu Qiao. I co-authored a chapter focusing on design strategies applied in the City of Tampa, Florida. The book contains chapters covering a range of global cities and areas of study.

Paving a Path for BTR Success in Florida Communities 

BY BOB MOSER

Whether you call it Build-to-Rent (BTR) or Single-Family for Rent (SFFR), arguably the hottest new residential product in land development is still new to most municipalities across Florida. It doesn’t fit in established zoning categories and prompts fear of the unknown among neighbors and policymakers.

RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture has led the first successful rezoning applications for BTR projects in Florida’s City of Bonita Springs and Osceola County in recent months. Our years of experience designing and permitting BTR in the western United States have helped, but ultimately these Florida wins can be boiled down to proactive public engagement, high-quality visuals and practicing empathy with the concerns of others.

RVi - Arizona Has a New Address

BY SARA ALTIERI

Since 2018, the RVi – Arizona office has been located on Ash Avenue in Tempe, on the second floor of a 1990s building, tucked between rattling train tracks and a well-traveled traffic circle. Offices for Atwell, RVI’s partner company, were located on the first floor.  The Tempe building served its purpose, providing the team a place to work together on projects as well as opportunities to venture out on lunch-time group treks up Tempe’s “A” Mountain for a view of the Arizona State University campus. Throughout the pandemic, however, the RVi team was offered the option of working from home or within COVID-19 safety protocols in the Tempe office. Since March 2020, fewer employees had been working in the office, but what was certain is that the space would no longer be able accommodate the growing team with a swelling docket of projects.

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