Pittsburgh Innovation District

ASSET MAPPING AND CONCEPT VISION PLANNING

The Pittsburgh Innovation District (PID) is situated in the heart of Pittsburgh’s east end in Oakland neighborhood straddling the campuses of Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and UPMC. While at a previous firm, Steven worked with PID leadership to guide a process for establishing a high-level vision plan for the PID, starting with a robust current state of existing assets in Oakland and beyond.  Steven and his team built a robust GIS map and data set of Oakland, which included a variety of land-use, mobility, systems, and social-economic layers.   Building on this effort, he co-facilitated several working sessions with leadership from the city, major institutions, and innovation district stakeholders.   The aim was to build a collective understanding of today’s successes and challenges and to envision future connected assets across public and private entities. 

Understanding the full range of space types that create a vibrant and activated innovation ecosystem for Pittsburgh was critical.  With creative engagement exercises, the team was able to flesh out the future assets needed to accelerate stakeholders’ individual efforts, as well as the collective that comprises the Innovation District.  Key to this vision was planning how best to connect these nodes of innovation in the city through walksheds, bikes and bus rapid transit.

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Client:  Pittsburgh Innovation District Date: 2019