Planning & Urban Design
Bolton & Menk’s planning, placemaking, and policy group is focused on helping clients prepare for their future. Rooted in robust public engagement, we facilitate consensus for buildable, sustainable solutions. Our team helps solve multifaceted problems with technical, regulatory, funding, and community expertise. We deliver plans and designs that work.
- pedestrian and bicycle facility planning and design
- transit planning and design
- safe routes to school planning and implementation
- micro-mobility/new mobility planning and design
- active living planning
- multimodal corridor planning and design
- multimodal safety improvements
- cav planning
- site planning and design
- single family and multifamily planning and design
- commercial and mixed use planning and design
- public-private ventures
- developer support and services
- parks
- trails
- recreation facilities
- sports fields and courts
- public plazas
- public realm
- placemaking
- Interpretive Planning and Design
- green infrastructure
- environmental restoration
- environmental review and documentation
- cultural resource management
- natural resource surveys and assessment
- chloride management
- district system development
- climate resiliency planning
- k-12 schools
- civic campuses
- colleges and universities
- medical facilities
- corporate headquarters
- small area plans
- corridor plans
- district plans
- daily planning services
- development review
- zoning code review and updates
- comprehensive plans
- master plans
- strategic planning services
- housing and economic studies
- implementation frameworks
Resources
Coffee Break: Designing Parks
Now’s the time to get out and about, with many people heading to their local parks to get some fresh air. We talked to Jonathan Nelsen, one of our landscape architects, about designing parks, the future of parks, and why he loves what he does.
Promoting Public Health Through Outdoor Community Spaces
COVID-19 shifted the way we connect with people and places. Bolton & Menk focuses on public health with thoughtful outdoor community space design.
Coffee Break: Episode 5
Social distancing Coffee Break is back! To celebrate National Public Works Week, we sat down with an engineer and a planner to learn how they work together to create great places for communities to enjoy.
Drake and Bates Park Spraygrounds: The Perfect Opportunity for Outdoor Communities
Discover how Drake and Bates Park Spraygrounds achieved accessibility and created an inviting outdoor space for their communities to experience during the summertime.
Making Communities Safe, Sustainable, and Beautiful
At Bolton & Menk, we listen from your perspective to bring you solutions that will fit your community’s needs to become safe, sustainable, and beautiful.
Landscape Architects Help Marshalltown Move Forward
The Highway 14 Corridor Study has laid the groundwork for creating a beautified, safe, and user-friendly corridor that will be impactful to the revitalization of Marshalltown.
The Role of Immigration in Planning
Planners are in a unique position to facilitate community cohesiveness by learning more about cultural distinctives, helping with community education and outreach, and providing service referrals and employment options to help new immigrants become self-sufficient.
Relinking Muscatine to the Mississippi River
The completion of the Mississippi Drive reconstruction project has kickstarted several private development projects as well as additional phases, including a roundabout at one end of the corridor and a continuation of the project’s design onto an adjoining corridor.
Community Planning Services
This month’s edition of FYI Friday recognizes our community planning services! Our staff’s hands-on approach gives us unique insight when assisting communities on everything from special projects to their everyday needs. We’re committed to helping the communities where we live, work, and play.
Meet Our Environmental Planning Work Group
Learn about our Environmental Planning work group, and how we have become an industry leader in sustainable engineering.
NPHC Plaza at Iowa State: Representing and Uplifting the Black Community
The NPHC Plaza at Iowa State University celebrates the rich history, accomplishments, and aspirations of Divine 9 members.
Synthetic Turf Fields Are Green, But How Green?
The ‘grass’ may just be greener on a synthetic turf field! Learn how we make sure sustainability is the winner when it comes to sports facility solutions.
How We Approach Comprehensive Planning to Engage Communities
Dive in to learn how Bolton & Menk engages communities in their own comprehensive plan. Comprehensive plans should be tailored to meet the needs of the community – what better way than to engage them in their own plan?
Can Planners and Engineers Do More Than Coexist?
Planners and engineers often see the world through different lenses. However, more and more we are seeing planners and engineers working side by side.
Revisioning Design for Technology & Climate Change
Learn how revisioning design for technology and climate change can enhance beauty in addition to safety and sustainability.
Rejecting Echo Chambers for Project Success
The City of Hopkins recently completed its “Artery” project, which successfully brought together all facets of public and private development across multiple agencies.
Building the Equity Table in Community Infrastructure
What does equity really mean, and how does it play a role in community infrastructure? Learn what it takes to equitably plan for your community’s needs.
Corridor Study Jumpstarts Projects in Mankato
Learn how Bolton & Menk and their project partners turned a corridor study into a publicly acceptable project implementation guide for Riverfront Drive.
Corridor Planning
Our corridor planning team works with each community to develop a vision for land use changes that align with roadway and infrastructure reconstruction. Our firm’s multidisciplinary approach means we can solve complex problems efficiently and coherently.
Why a Comprehensive Plan? What is it Anyway?
A comprehensive plan is meant to preserve the uniqueness and appeal of a community while preparing for future development and redevelopment changes as growth or economic conditions change.
Rural Community Planning: Making Sure the Sidewalk Doesn’t End
Any community can be successful when it comes to ensuring the sidewalk doesn’t end with rural community planning, policies, and engagement!
What’s the Fact about Urban Planning?
Landscape architect Grant Meacci answers some questions to set the record straight about urban design in this installment of What’s the Fact.
Out with the Old, In with the Renewed: Transforming Old Buildings and Sites to Revitalize Communities
Learn about how Bolton & Menk collaborates with communities to plan and transform old buildings and sites to revitalize their futures.
Iowa State Honors NPHC with Plaza
ISU honors its NPHC Chapter by creating a plaza for current, future, and international students, families, and alumni to gather and feel connected.
Build a Better Project Experience with Project Communications
Project communication services identifies and executes effective communication tools and strategies throughout the life of a project, be it the preliminary design phase or final construction.
Coffee Break: Episode 3
Today is Read Across America Day, so we thought it was only fitting to sit down with a few of our children’s book authors over a cup of coffee to learn about their books, inspiration, and what they hope readers get out of them!
Blink Video: What is a Comprehensive Plan?
Our latest and greatest in the Blink! Simplified Solutions series presents: What is a Comprehensive Plan? Learn how communities can take this living document and turn it into their vision, goals, and aspirations. Don’t blink, you might miss it!
Embracing Community Identity for Beautiful Solutions
The award-winning downtown streetscape design in Indianola, Iowa, based on the input of various voices throughout the community, provides an opportunity to create a safe, sustainable, and beautiful streetscape Indianola residents and visitors can enjoy for years to come.
What’s the Fact about Sports Facilities?
Learn from Jay Pomeroy as he talks about the importance of multipurpose and sustainable sports facilities and how hybrid learning affected site design in What’s the Fact.
