My First Charrette: Four Days in Vallejo

Opticos Design’s newest team member Megan Reineccius writes about what it was like to participate in her first charrette. When they told me we were going to work four 12-hour days in a row, I felt like I was being shipped ...

Visioning Charrette in Vallejo Focuses on Building Design

Opticos Design was in Vallejo, CA, recently to host a multiday charrette that brought together business owners, property owners, and community members to refine the 2013 Corridor Design Plan’s vision and to establish a framework for the city’s Sonoma Boulevard ...

Austin Community Character: Keeping it Weird

The City of Austin, TX, prides itself on being weird. So much so, that the city’s unofficial slogan is “Keep Austin Weird.” Entire news articles have been devoted to whether the city’s weirdness is on the decline. “There’s new weird ...

Austin’s Community Character Initiative Surpasses 100-Box Milestone

Austin’s CodeNEXT team is excited to announce that more than 150 Austin residents have signed up to host a group to complete a Community Character in a Box kit. The project surpassed a milestone this week—122 kits have already been ...

DIY Community Character Documentation Launches in Austin

The City of Austin is in the process of rewriting its land development code through an initiative called CodeNEXT and is calling upon Austenites to get involved. Residents are asked to help the CodeNEXT team to better understand the diverse character ...