Course Description: This course will explore three successful planning projects in South Florida, highlighting effective collaboration in design, community involvement, and tangible community benefits. Attendees will learn how significant changes in infrastructure can affect surrounding communities, the importance of green infrastructure, and several tools that can be utilized to support the posterity of healthy communities in South Florida and around the country.

Learning Objectives: 

• Identify simple and effective tools for urban projects that positively impact surrounding communities.
• Learn how to apply these tools to create tangible effects on community connection, resiliency, and placemaking.
• Learn about three specific projects and the strategies used to improve community well-being.
• Understand the importance of collaboration between professionals with differing objectives.
• Gain understanding of the importance of community engagement in the city planning process.

This course will provide 1 Continuing Education Credit

Florida DBPR Course Number: 13415 (Optional)

**If you would like CE credit, please be sure to enter your LA Number in your profile.

Meet the Speakers:

BARRY MILLER, PLA

Barry Miller has spent the last 30 years practicing landscape architecture with the mission of having a positive impact on the sustainability and resiliency of our built and natural environment. With award-winning projects ranging from parks, streetscapes, master plans, mixed-use developments, hospitality and residential, he has engaged in a wide range of scopes and scales, always delivering designs that are beautiful, functional, and sensitive to the environmental and cultural context of the site. Barry’s work has been widely recognized at the state and international level by numerous organizations, including the Florida Chapter for the American Society of Landscape Architects, American Planning Association Gold Section and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.

Barry is a registered Landscape Architect in the State of Florida. He remains actively involved in Florida’s landscape architecture programs as a juror, engaging students through site tours and lecturing widely throughout the state.

PATRICIA MATAMOROS ARAUJO, SITES AP, WEDG

Patricia is a landscape designer and senior project manager at Savino & Miller Design Studio in Miami with a background in both landscape architecture and architecture where she has worked on award-winning projects including “The Barnacle Historic State Park Master Plan” & “Miami Baywalk-Riverwalk Design Guidelines”. She is an active advocate of resiliency, bringing five years of experience working on large-scale resiliency public space projects in Miami, engaging in public speaking opportunities, and volunteering in efforts to raise awareness and take action to adapt to climate change.

Additionally, Patricia has five years of professional practice as a licensed architect in Venezuela with experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is an MLA graduate from Florida International University in 2019, an FIU Latin American and the Caribbean Graduate Fellowship recipient, and honors include: two FLASLA Student Design and an ASLA Outstanding Academic Achievement awards.

NEAL SCHAFERS

In 2015, Neal Schafers joined the Miami Downtown Development Authority (or DDA), bringing with him sixteen years of experience creating livable communities and destinations through research, design, collaboration, and onsite construction management. The Miami DDA is the economic development agency of the City of Miami, and as head of the Urban Planning Department, Neal and his team focus on projects and collaborations that enhance the connectivity, mobility, placemaking and urban design in Downtown Miami. Over the last several years, Neal’s team has been focused on revitalizing Flagler Street, completing, and activating the Baywalk and Riverwalk, implementing and improving the Downtown Bike Network, advancing the Biscayne Green initiative, supporting the SMART Plan corridors and Downtown Tri-Rail connection, and collaborating on the US Army Corps Back Bay coastal protection study.

Before joining the Miami DDA, Neal worked at EDSA Planning & Landscape Architecture firm for eight years (Fort Lauderdale, Abu Dhabi, & Shanghai offices) focusing on sustainable waterfront development, wildlife parks, resorts, and urban planning.  Prior to that, Neal earned a Master’s of Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida, studied abroad at the UF Paris Research Center in 2006, and earned a Bachelor’s Degree of Communications from the University of Minnesota.”

MICHAEL ANTINELLI, PE, CFM

Michael Antinelli is the Co-Founder of Brizaga, a Fort Lauderdale company working to develop solutions to adapt communities to increasing flood risks including sea level rise. With a background in floodplain management and civil and coastal engineering, Michael leverages his technical expertise working with governments, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and other corporations to develop programs, products and processes that make flood prevention and mitigation solutions accessible and affordable to all.

Michael received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering from the University of Florida. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of Florida, New York, and New Jersey, and a Certified Floodplain Manager.

He began his career in Miami focused on coastal modeling and engineering, including floodplain mapping and rezoning, beach nourishment, shoreline stabilization, seawall design, and stormwater management. In the years following Superstorm Sandy, Michael relocated to New York City to assist with the development of coastal protection projects and sea level rise preparedness projects. He moved back to his native Broward County in 2017 and founded Brizaga to work toward finding sea level rise solutions in his hometown.

CHRISTIAN KAMRATH

Christian Kamrath serves as the Resilience Program Manager for the Adaptation Team for Miami-Dade County’s Office Resilience where he leads interdisciplinary work on sea level rise and flooding policy, risk assessments and community-based adaptation planning. Through collaboration across County Departments, municipal, state, and federal agencies along with community-based organizations, colleges and universities, and other stakeholders, he is responsible for implementation of the County’s first Sea Level Rise Strategy (2021). Prior to working for the County, he supported various coastal zone management, climate adaptation and long-term disaster recovery programs at the local, state, and federal level. Christian is a Certified Floodplain Manager and holds a B.S. in Geography from the University of Florida and a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.