As we look to the year ahead, our thoughts turn to the future of urban infrastructure — specifically, how cities can turn inert facilities and heat-capturing pavement into loamy urban green. Working across scales and jurisdictions, Starr Whitehouse has been partnering with agencies and communities to convert legacy infrastructure into natural spaces of all sizes. From bioswales to corridor studies to park conversions, we look for creative opportunities to green the urban fabric — healing habitat, soaking up stormwater and enhancing social life along the way.

The Linc

City of New Rochelle | New Rochelle, NY

In the 1950s, highway construction cut through a historic African American neighborhood in downtown New Rochelle, separating neighbors and creating challenging conditions for local businesses. Now, New Rochelle has received RAISE funds to convert nine acres of overpass into a public park — part of a national movement to rethink highways built during the urban renewal era. Starr Whitehouse has joined VHB to design the new park, expanding social spaces, reintroducing native wetlands, managing stormwater, and restoring the connective tissue of this vibrant neighborhood.

Georgia Tech North Avenue Visioning Study

Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA

In Atlanta, Starr Whitehouse is working with the Georgia Institute of Technology to transform vehicle-dominated North Avenue into a pedestrian-friendly “front door" for the campus community. The plan re-envisions this byway on the southern edge of campus as the primary point of arrival for visitors and a year-round destination for students, faculty and staff. The study presents a holistic vision that makes the roadway safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, envisions new building programs that bring a meaningful academic presence to the campus’ southern edge, and carves out new open spaces to enhance everyday life at Georgia Tech.

East Village / Lower East Side Waterfront Access Study

NYC DOT / NYC Parks / NYC OMB | New York, NY

Teaming with Arcadis and Sam Schwartz, Starr Whitehouse is leading public engagement for OMB and DOT's plan to enhance pedestrian and bicycle connections to East River Park and improve the public realm along the FDR. From online polls to tabling at busy intersections, our team is talking to residents about access and mobility, open space needs, health and environment, and stormwater management. Grounded in community voices, the study will prioritize waterfront and open space access in a neighborhood known for its extensive paving and challenging pedestrian crossings.

Climate Strong Communities

NYC EDC | New York, NY

Increasingly, federal and state programs are turning their attention — and funding — to climate initiatives. These resources are important for creating greener, more resilient public spaces, but obtaining them is complicated, and privileged communities are often better positioned to receive them. Through Climate Strong Communities, Starr Whitehouse and ONE Architecture are working with the Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice to help six underserved communities identify climate projects that match with federal funding — building the local organization and climate expertise needed for neighborhoods to advocate for their public realms. Starr Whitehouse is assembling Neighborhood Support Teams in each community, composed of local leaders and organizations who will work with the City to make their neighborhoods more resilient.

Nissequogue River State Park Master Plan

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation |

Kings Park, NY

Starr Whitehouse is helping NYS Parks convert a former psychiatric hospital into a regional park for Long Island's North Shore communities. Nestled between upland bluffs and the marshy banks of the Nissequogue River, this 521-acre site was originally chosen in the belief that proximity to nature would help patients heal. Starr Whitehouse's master plan takes this idea and runs with it — re-imagining the campus as a place of respite, ecology and recreation. The plan adapts historic structures to new uses, removes non-contributing buildings, extends native wetlands and bird habitat, and re-organizes the site into an immersive, all-day park experience.

North Point Parkway Corridor Redesign

City of Alpharetta | Alpharetta, GA

In the City of Alpharetta, a once-thriving commercial corridor built to provide access to a regional mall has suffered disinvestment over the past decade as retail has moved online or to other parts of Alpharetta. Building on a City-led plan, Starr Whitehouse and Columbia Engineering are implementing a road diet that will transform the 1.4-mile auto-centric corridor into a walkable and bikeable linear park. The design reclaims two lanes of roadway and replaces them with verdant plantings, shared-use paths on both sides of the road, and pedestrian and bicycle plazas at quarter-mile intervals. When finished, the project will act as the spine for a new human-scaled mixed-use district, and as a green connector to the regional trail network.

SOUTHWEST RESILIENCY PARK CHOSEN FOR LAF'S CASE STUDY INVESTIGATION PROGRAM

Five years after completing the first phase of Southwest Resiliency Park, Starr Whitehouse will be partnering with Rutgers University to study how the park has been absorbing stormwater. As part of the Landscape Architecture Foundation's Case Study Investigation (CSI) program, our team will be working with Dr. Wolfram Hoefer, Director of Rutgers' Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability, and Student Research Assistant James Hill to measure stormwater retention and other performance metrics. Southwest Park was one of ten high-performing landscape projects selected by LAF for the CSI program in 2024. Read the press release here.

SENIORS FIRST: WEEKSVILLAGE STARTS DESIGN

We are thrilled to join MASS Design Group and CAMBA to implement our team's winning design for NYCHA's Seniors First competition. Nestled into NYCHA's Kingsborough campus in Crown Heights, Weeksvillage will create an affordable "Aging in Community" facility with healthy lifestyle amenities and over a dozen building-integrated landscapes for residents to enjoy.

A warm welcome to the newest members of our team!

Tim Webster

Senior Landscape Architect

John Ward

Landscape Designer

Sylvia Krauss-Grimm

Design Intern