ABOUT
Jeffrey Shumaker, AICP, has been working at the intersection of architecture, urban design and planning for more than twenty-five years, in both the public and private sectors, and in cities across the globe. He served the City of New York as its Chief Urban Designer and Director of Urban Design and held leadership roles in some of the world’s top architecture, urban planning and design firms including BIG, KPF and SOM.
Jeffrey is currently Co-Founder and Principal at Partners in Public Design and President of Urbanscape, an international urban design and planning consultancy he founded in 2002. Taking a place-based approach to his work, Jeffrey is helping communities, architecture and planning firms, private and non-profit institutions, towns and cities create better places to live, work, study and play. Jeffrey provides a full range of services from urban design, planning and placemaking to liaising with city agencies and advising clients on strategy and public approvals. Globally, Jeffrey is serving as expert advisor to UNHabitat on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – participated in two expert panel discussions in Seville and Madrid - and is working with cities around the globe to build internal urban design capacity, most recently in Pretoria, S. Africa and Seoul, S. Korea.
Jeffrey holds dual Masters Degrees in Architecture, Planning and Urban Design from MIT and a Bachelor of Architecture with Honors from Syracuse University. He is the recipient of the Public Architect Award from AIANY and the Michael Weil Award from the Department of City Planning, both recognizing excellence in urban design in the public realm. Jeffrey teaches and lectures frequently and is currently an adjunct professor of urban design and planning for Columbia University and the Syracuse Architecture program in NYC. Jeffrey also serves on the board of the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA).
PUBLIC SPEAKING + INTERNATIONAL JURIES
Recent and upcoming keynote and public speaking include:
(Upcoming 2024) Design for a Better World: a Global Forum, keynote speaker, Bangkok, Thailand; World Urban Forum, UNHabitat, Cairo, Egypt; LGBTQ Placemaking Stories, Global Placemaking Week, Baltimore.
(2023) Global Summit, PlacemakingX, Mexico City; Window as Place lecture, Pratt Futures, Pratt School of Architecture; D-PRAT, APA Urban Design Committee workshop, N. Miami; Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) panel discussion; Placemaking in Ossining lecture, OPC.
(2022) Ukrainian Urban Awards Jury, Kiev, Ukraine (canceled); Global Experts Meet, Rome, Italy;
(2021) Urban Design Forum, Broadway Vision Plan, Respondent; ULI Mixed-Use Council panel on Generative Urban Planning with Sidewalk Labs; A Marshall Plan for Middle America, Pittsburgh, PA;
(2020) Floating Cities panel with UNHabitat, The World Urban Forum, Abu Dhabi, UAE; Institute for Public Architecture panel discussion: To Be or Not to BQE with Michael Kimmelman;
(2019) Grand Theater & Science and Technology Museum International Design Competition Jury, Xingtai, China; Master Salon, Shijiazhuang, China; Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) International Universal Design Conference, Keynote speaker, Seoul, South Korea; UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva, Switzerland; European Placemaking Conference, Valencia, Spain; Geneva Planning Office, Geneva, Switzerland; Kosovo Architecture Festival, Prishtina, Kosovo; Urban Design Institute of South Africa (UDISA), Cape Town, South Africa; University of Pretoria Lecture & City of Pretoria Workshop, South Africa;
(2018) NY-LON Dialogue, Center for Architecture/New London Architecture, NYC and London; Public Private Personal, Van Alen Institute, NYC; Urban Well-Being by Architectural Design, AIA Archtober, NYC;
(2017) A Healthy Region Through Street Design, RPA Assembly, NYC; Planning Compact Cities: Exploring the Possibilities and Limits of Densification, UN-Habitat, Seville, Spain; New Realities, New Urban Solutions: Implementing the New Urban Agenda, UN-Habitat, Madrid, Spain;
(2016) Building the Future of Health, Groningen, Netherlands; Re-Imagining Urbanism Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa; Australian Institute of Architects Annual Conference How Soon is Now, Adelaide, Australia; 200th Celebration of the Government Architect’s Office 200+, Sydney, Australia; Facades+ Conference, NYC; Live/Work for the Workforce, Institute for Public Architecture, NYC;
(2015) Livable City Conference, Osaka and Tokyo, Japan; Designing NYC, MIT, Cambridge, MA; sthlmnyc exchange, Stockholm & NYC; City Regenerative: Rebuilding the City in Harmony with Nature, National Academy Museum, NYC; IFHP NYC Lab, International Federation for Housing and Planning, NYC; Archtober, Center for Architecture, NYC
Contact.
shumaker@alum.MIT.edu
(917) 455-6047
