About
Team
Multidisciplinary Design + Planning Expertise
Vibrant Places Inc. is a nimble, multidisciplinary consultancy founded by Gloria Venczel, BES., B.Arch., RPP, MCIP, Principal/Urban Designer, as a socio-economic response to covid-19. She is an award winning professional and city building innovator, with 10 years experience as a former Intern Architect and over 15 years expertise in pedestrian-oriented urban design + planning, placemaking and public space programming for vibrancy, as a registered urban designer/planner. She has worked in the private, public and NGO sectors.
Collaboration
As pedestrian oriented urban design is collaborative and is the end product of the 10 principles of smart growth, including compact, mixed-use, complete community land uses and multi-modal/public transportation, Vibrant Places Inc. works with other cutting edge consultants.
Cities + Neighbourhoods Rethink
Urban Design for Social Resiliency in the Built Environment
Vibrant Places Inc. is rethinking cities + neighbourhoods as integrated hubs for socio-economic resiliency in the built environment, problem solving for (post) covid-19, climate crisis, e- media, and e-retail impacts. With covid-19 accelerating the social media-induced isolation trends, the pandemic has highlighted how important social connectedness is for neighbourhood vibrancy and the social fabric of civil society.
City-Scaled Economic Vibrancy + Public Spaces
With small businesses providing the majority of public spaces, which were already heavily weighted down by "phantom" density taxes, they were struggling to survive pre-covid-19. As "commerce is the genesis of cities", using the people-scaled lenses of pedestrian oriented urban design + urban planning strategies, Vibrant Places Inc. offers municipal + private sector expertise to help enhance complete and economically viable communities, create vibrant public spaces and streetscapes with a "sense of place/belonging". With such social connectedness city-building tools, Vibrant Places Inc. can help strengthen socio-economic resiliency at the neighbourhood scale, as well as architecturally seamlessly integrating new affordable housing.
Community Capacity Building
The "Vancouver Achievement" + Public Urban Design/Planning Literacy
The global award winning "Vancouver Achievement's" participatory planning strategy of public capacity building and "literacy" in urban design/ planning has yielded cutting edge, multi-generational dividends of vibrant, sustainable, green, walkable neighbourhoods. Vibrant Places Inc. believes that public capacity building in pedestrian-oriented urban design/planning has great value, especially in challenging times, in creating more resilient cities and neighbourhoods.
Vibrant Places Inc. contributes to socio-economic resiliency in the built environment through custom, capacity building, jargon-free workshops for community members, elected officials and others on pedestrian-oriented urban design + public spaces and affordable, economically vibrant, green neighbourhoods.