We are a united front. The Urban Experience Alliance is a shared exploration of how story, brand and design can influence our most beloved urban landscapes.

We are a growing collaborative of passionate placemakers and creative storytellers. Our alliance members represent different disciplines but are united in the belief that telling the stories of place is as important as creating them.

The Alliance

Great public spaces invite people to connect, linger, and belong. Our work is about creating the elements that make those experiences possible.

Trish Almedia
Team Member, Green Theory
Trish Almedia - Photo

Success only means something when it's built on the backs of the local farmers and producers who make our East Van spots what they are

Stephen Whiteside
Co-Owner, Dachi
Stephen Whiteside - Photo

Through thoughtful design and responsible material choices, we create lasting public spaces that support the fabric of our communities.

Bella Franske
Team Member, Green Theory
Bella Franske - Photo

I believe in supporting the small, local farmers and producers who make our East Van spots feel like home.

Miki Ellis
Co-Owner, Dachi
Miki Ellis - Photo

As an educator, I am passionate about helping my students understand how thoughtfully designed places can shape human experience, foster connection, and strengthen communities.

Seng Sengsavanh
Faculty, Wilson School of Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Seng Sengsavanh - Photo

Real estate has the power to influence how people live, connect, and belong. Our responsibility is to create places that earn that impact.

Sunny Hahm
Founder, Tandem Real Estate Strategy
Sunny Hahm - Photo

Places people return to are shaped by people, community and local businesses and by the everyday rituals that make a neighbourhood feel familiar, welcoming and cared for.

Andrea Piccolo
Co-Owner, Prado Cafe
Andrea Piccolo - Photo

Our studio's purpose is to bring possible worlds to life. We exist to evoke feeling, engineer experience and activate that which can and should be.

Craig Stanghetta
Founder, Ste. Marie
Craig Stanghetta - Photo

The most meaningful places emerge when we come together to co-create a shared vision, drawing on our collective experiences, perspectives, and aspirations.

Derek Lee
Partner, PWL Partnership
Derek Lee - Photo

Indigenous art and culture reconnect architecture to land, identity, and the living stories of place.

James Harry
Artist, James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry
James Harry - Photo

Urban design quietly shapes our happiness, influencing how we move, connect, and experience daily life.

Mitchell Reardon
Director, Urban Planning, Happy Cities
Mitchell Reardon - Photo

When Indigenous culture informs design, places carry deeper meaning, memory, and connection to land.

Cory Douglas
Cultural Design Consultant & Planner, Modern Formline Design
Cory Douglas - Photo

Place is so very connected to the very notion of how we design and collaborate - both in our homes and in our neighbourhoods.

Steve Bonini
Special Projects Coordinator, Inform Projects
Steve Bonini - Photo

When design prioritizes people and experience, spaces evolve into vibrant places that communities truly value.

Camila Ramos
, Inform Projects
Camila Ramos - Photo

Cultural placemaking is the best investment of public wealth I can think of. Education, health, wellness, social equity, arts, culture, sustainability, civic identity – it’s an investment in everything we hold dear.

Joseph Fry
Principal, Hapa Collaborative
Joseph Fry - Photo

Placemaking is not a science, it is a wonderful, collaborate form of art.

Tak Yukawa
Co-Founder, Free Agency Creative
Tak Yukawa - Photo

Urban planning and development must keep up with the evolution of health and longevity

Spencer Coppin
Co-Founder, Life Protocol
Spencer Coppin - Photo

Great cities give people real transportation choices so everyone can participate fully in urban life.

Denis Agar
Executive Director, Movement YVR
Denis Agar - Photo

Empathy is the most powerful tool a designer has, if we only have the courage to use it.

Don Williams
Co-Founder, Free Agency Creative
Don Williams - Photo

As architects, we have a unique ability, and responsibility, to positively influence the social, urban and environmental fabric of society through creative placemaking.

Melissa Higgs
Principal, hcma
Melissa Higgs - Photo

It’s always important that we mean something to our neighbourhoods and that our neighbourhoods mean even more to the people who visit us.

Jess Reno
Founder, Nemesis Coffee
Jess Reno - Photo

People live and work in spaces, and move within and between spaces. The individual characteristics of space are vital in determining our quality of life.

Maxine Jakubke
Principal, PUBLiSH Partners
Maxine Jakubke - Photo

It’s our duty to produce the unexpected and tie it to a strong narrative. We want people to be excited to come to work every day.

Janay Koldingnes
Interior Designer, Edit Studios
Janay Koldingnes - Photo

Development and cities need to believe in the economic potential culture. We need to put more trust in entrepreneurs to craft and shape their communities.

Josh Vanderheide
Founder of Many Things, Field House Brewing
Josh Vanderheide - Photo

We need to explore the cultural shift in local design from architectural banality to architectural vanity and whether this has contributed to making our neighbourhoods any better.

Andrew Emmerson
Principal, GBL Architects
Andrew Emmerson - Photo

Good design can be subtle, invisible even, reductive and restorative, not always an additive process. It needs no owner or author, but instead can be a collective of actions born from messy, slow and loving places with no preconceived results or anticipated end in sight.

Matthew Thomson
Architect, Matthew Thomson Design
Matthew Thomson - Photo

Human experiences in well-designed spaces will never be replaced by technology.

Albert Law
Photographer, Photographer
Albert Law - Photo

The way we make and manufacture is changing. How do we connect the creativity happening inside drab light industrial areas to an otherwise vibrant community?

Jorden Foss
Co-Founder, Steel & Oak Brewing
Jorden Foss - Photo

Place has the power to connect and inspire. Where we are, inspires who we are.

Amanda Oster
Photographer, Provoke Studios
Amanda Oster - Photo

To play a role in fostering community culture through intentional placemaking, is both an inspiring and humbling pursuit.

Adam Mills
Co-Founder, Four Winds Brewing Co.
Adam Mills - Photo

Clear placemaking should be the core of the development process. It drives our wellbeing and the narrative for our lives.

Tim Ng
Principal, ADHOC studio
Tim Ng - Photo

Champion them and there. These relationships, the sensations of music, food and art simply move the needle. The people and places that colour your immediate life deserve to be celebrated.

Ryan Savella
Filmmaker & Photographer, Arcade Original
Ryan Savella - Photo

We are sensitive to our environments. We have an opportunity to affect ourselves positively by considering what we place around us.

Adam Blasberg
Owner, Adam Blasberg Photography

As neighbourhoods and cities evolve, so do their stories. How we tell them can bridge the gap between past and future, fostering a true sense of place.

Geoff Hunt
Principal & Creative Director, Tiny Vikings

Our Alliance Members

Placemakers
  • CRAIG STANGHETTA
    Ste. Marie
  • ANDREW EMMERSON
    GBL Architects
  • JOSEPH FRY
    Hapa Collaborative
  • JESS RENO
    Nemesis Coffee
  • ANDREA PICCOLO
    Prado Cafe
  • JORDEN FOSS
    Steel & Oak Brewing
  • ADAM MILLS
    Four Winds Brewing
  • JOSH VANDERHEIDE
    Field House Brewing
  • JANAY KOLDINGNES
    Edit Studios
  • TAIZO YAMAMOTO
    Yamamoto Architecture
  • MELISSA HIGGS
    hcma
  • ANDREW LAING, ADAM KRAHN
    & MIKE SIMPSON
    Quarterhorse
  • MATTHEW THOMSON
    Matthew Thomson Design
  • GINGER GOSNELL-MYERS
    Ginger Gosnell-Myers Consulting
  • ALI KENYON
    hcma
  • LAURA POTTER
    hcma
  • MITCHELL REARDON
    Happy Cities
  • CORY DOUGLAS
    Modern Formline
  • MIKI ELLIS
    Niwa & Dachi Restaurants
  • SUNNY HAHM
    Tandem Real Estate Strategy
  • JAMES HARRY
    James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry
  • DEREK LEE
    PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc.
  • KELTY MCKINNON
    PFS Studio
  • SEBASTIEN PANOUILE
    ThinkL Studio
  • DENIS AGAR
    Movement YVR
  • CAMILA RAMOS
    InformProjects
  • STEVE BONINI
    InformProjects
  • MITCHELL REARDON
    Happy Cities
  • NICK ROSSI
    Kitchen Table Restaurants
  • SPENCER COPPIN
    Life Protocol
  • SHANTI WILLIAMSON
    Modern Formline
  • STEPHEN WHITESIDE
    Niwa & Dachi Restaurants
  • SUNNY HAHM
    Tandem Real Estate Strategy
  • MIKI ELLIS
    Dachi Restaurant
  • STEPHEN WHITESIDE
    Dachi Restaurant
  • ANDREA PICCOLO
    Prado Cafe
  • SENG SENGSAVANH
    Wilson School of Design (KPU)
  • TRISH ALMEDIA
    Green Theory
  • BELLA FRANSKE
    Green Theory
Storytellers
  • MARTIN GLEGG
    Wallop Film
  • MAXINE JAKUBKE
    PUBLiSH Partners
  • RYAN SAVELLA
    Arcade Original
  • ADAM BLASBERG
    Adam Blasberg Photography
  • GEOFF HUNT
    Tiny Vikings
  • ALEX BEIM
    Tangible Interaction
  • TIM NG
    ADHOC STUDIO & BLACKLINE
  • AMANDA OSTER
    Provoke Studios
  • ALBERT LAW
    Albert Law Photography
  • TERRY MCWHIRTER
    Vividus
  • MACKENZIE PAGE
    Mackenzie Page Design
  • MICHAEL MENTON
    Bouva Media
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