Value by design.

There are two fundamental ways to create great places: place-making (e.g. design) and place-management (e.g. programming). Both help create places that people want to visit (tourism or other destinations) or to live (new communities, neighbourhoods and developments).

Excellent design is essential to place-making and attracting visitors, residents and investors. Successful local governments and developers hire good designers, invest in landscape and streetscape, focus on development character and quality, and regulate things like signage and lighting. This adds value by design - often with a remarkable return on investment. Whistler is a great example.

Design Guidelines and Design Review are two basic techniques that can add value by design. Doug Leighton:

• Established the Banff Design Panel and ran the Whistler Design Panel

• Wrote the Whistler and Banff Design Guidelines

• Authored many community and commercial Design Guidelines, Controls, Standards, Codes and Bylaws

• Established and helped manage multiple private development design panels

• Was a founding member of Auckland Urban Design Panel and served on City of Victoria and Calgary urban design panels

• Delivered Design Review presentation at the Urbanism Downunder conference (Wellington NZ 2005)

Past clients include a wide range of cities, towns, residential and commercial developers and institutions in Canada and New Zealand. Many of these design guidelines and review systems remain in operation - decades after being put in place.