2023 Missing Middle Solutions and Car-Free Urbanism Road Tour

Opticos is hitting the road! Come join Daniel Parolek at one of his upcoming speaking events to discuss all things walkable urbanism-related, including the state of Missing Middle Housing applications around the world, including Opticos’ latest Missing Middle Scans and Deep Dives™, a County-wide Zoning Toolkit for Marin County intended to deliver much-needed housing options, and Housing Plans for various cities including Modesto and Sacramento, California, the latest updates on the implementation of Culdesac Tempe, the county’s first car-free community built from scratch and Prairie Queen, the country’s first 100% Missing Middle Neighborhood which utilizes the Missing Middle Neighborhood Kit™. There will be some frank discussions about existing barriers for implementing walkable urbanism, why we have not made more progress enabling it, and what organizations are leading the way in these conversations.  

Creating Space for Emerging Professionals at CNU

The Emerging New Urbanists (ENU) made their first appearance at CNU this past March with the primary goal of creating a space for these emerging professionals to share with and learn from each other. They prioritized welcoming all new voices and encouraged the sharing of new ideas. Opticos Design’s very own Singeh Saliki, Cal Kurtz (ENU Co-Chair), and Beth Cichon (ENU Team Lead) have been participants since ENU’s founding, helping grow membership to nearly 100 active members.

Ten Actions Toward Being an Antiracist New Urbanist

At the recent CNU.29 Design for Change, a virtual conference by the Congress for New Urbanism, Karen Parolek hosted a capstone seminar on the roles and responsibilities of New Urbanists in dismantling systemic racism in the United States.

20 Years and Counting!

2020 has not been the year any of us expected. While we all do our part to confront this year’s challenges, it’s also important to take time to rest, to rejuvenate, and to celebrate. In that spirit, we hope you’ll join us to take a minute to celebrate Opticos’s 20th Anniversary, including the work of our past and current team, colleagues, and innovative clients, as well as look toward the future.

“Making Room” and Constructing Change with the National Building Museum

Opticos Design is honored to have partnered with the National Building Museum and Metcalfe Architecture & Design to utilize our housing expertise, particularly at the Missing Middle Housing scale, to design an interactive element of a timely new exhibit, “Making Room: Housing for a Changing America,” on view now at the National Building Museum through September 2018.