Featured Contributor

Donna Carter

President, Carter Design Associates

Donna D. Carter, FAIA is President of Carter Design Associates, an architectural, planning and restoration firm in Austin, Texas.  Her practice is focused on projects combining revitalization, historic preservation and new construction within a complete community context.

Featured Contributors

Kathie Tovo

Council Member, Austin City Council

Council Member Kathie Tovo represents City Council District 9. She was first elected to the Austin City Council on June 18, 2011, and was re-elected and began serving on the first geographically elected City Council in January 2015. She was also selected by her peers to serve as Mayor Pro Tem 2015-2018. Her Council service includes chairing the Audit and Finance Subcommittee and serving on the Planning and Neighborhoods, Open Space and Sustainability, and Health and Human Services Committees along with the Joint Subcommittee of the City of Austin, AISD, and Travis County and the Police Retirement Board.

Matt Macioge

Director of Operations, Downtown Austin Alliance

As the Director of Operations at the Downtown Austin Alliance, Matt manages the delivery of direct services and service contracts to ensure downtown is welcoming for residents, employees, and visitors alike. He also oversees the Downtown Ambassadors team and is responsible for the operations and maintenance of Republic Square. With a master's degree in Architecture, he has a diverse background ranging from sustainable design and construction to non-profit programming and events.

Featured Contributor

Brendan Wittstruck

Principal, Asakura Robinson

Brendan is a Principal and Director of Urban Design based in Austin, Texas. He leads the Asakura Robinson’s urban design practice, working at multiple scales to enrich public spaces through streetscape design, placemaking, and master planning. He contributes regularly to the firm’s planning and landscape design work, both through the Urban Design studio and as a project manager providing design and construction administration services for a variety of public and public-facing landscape architecture projects. Within the Austin office, he provides design leadership, sensitivity toward site context and history, and professional experience in sustainable design and LEED.

Featured Contributor

Christy Taylor

Partner, Chioco Design

Christy joined Chioco Design in 2018 and brings a broad range of experience in commercial projects, from larger educational and mixed use buildings that emphasize program and efficiency, to more elevated design projects that focus on crafted details and the creation of dynamic spaces. Christy is also a board member of the Austin chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Featured Contributor

Chelsea Collier

Founder, Digi.City

Chelsea works at the intersection of tech, policy, social impact, civic engagement and entrepreneurship. She is the Founder of Digi.City, Editor-At-Large at Smart City Connect, Co-Founder of Impact Hub Austin and Senior Advisor for Texans for Economic Progress. Chelsea is a Zhi-Xing Eisenhower Fellow (2016) focused on researching smart cities in the U.S. and China.

Featured Contributor

Emilie Twilling

Community Planner, Architect of the Capitol

Emilie Twilling is an urban planner and designer with multidisciplinary experience in architecture, landscape architecture, sustainability, public outreach and engagement, construction and real estate. After earning her master's degree at the University of Texas where she wrote her thesis Women's insecurity and exclusion in public spaces : a call to action and initial response, she started working as a Community Planner in Washington D.C.-based firm Architect of the Capitol.