Ela Dokonal, AICP, LEED AP

Interactive Art to Promote Urban Planning and ‘Buy Local’

Art

The event, titled Northport Artwalk, was organized through the cooperation of the local business community and the organization of local artists, with the aim to support both the local business and the local artist community. My exhibit included 8 paintings that together presented a short story about a village and its struggle to revive local [...]

Design Guidelines

Portfolio

The Design Guidelines documents provide an opportunity to visually illustrate the desired way of development. Although the zoning provisions provide a legislative intent to regulate the development, it is not easy for users to understand these large and complicated documents or easily visualize the desired outcome. The Design Guidelines are not a substitute for zoning [...]

Emotional Side of Places

Art

The art of creating places requires the sensibility to recognize emotional effects of existing places. What is it that excites or comforts, attracts, and what is it that makes us walk away; what exactly creates these bookmarks in our memories? The thing is, like in cooking, there is no one magical component. The success of [...]

Urban infill

Portfolio

The proposal presents an infill project within walkable distance from the vibrant downtown of Huntington, with multimodal improvements to mass-transit connections. The idea of densification of the Town core is one of the principle strategies for Smart Growth and New Urbanism. The 80 unit anchor prototype buildings are situated on 1.06 sewered acres in southern [...]

Sustainable development of harbor cities

Portfolio

The sustainable development of harbor cities was investigated during an International Workshop of design professionals organized by a French non-for profit organization. The focus was on examining the synergies of Dunkirk, a strategically positioned Harbor-City in terms of: international business relationships, cultural exchanges, migratory phenomena, synergy with the hinterland (territory of mining passageways located in [...]

Organically grown needs local procesing too

Planning

The growing demand for locally grown food and farming is a great boost for both organically grown produce, local economy and preservation of farm land. Demand for organically grown local food and small farming are part of a growing food trend in the U.S. But, as Steph Larsen writes, the trend is going to need [...]

Are social networks enhancing or diminishing public participation?

Planning

The participation process is influenced by many forces and trends, such as: economic impacts and the speed of social change, diminishing resources and the overall effects of suburbanization, shift in values, impacts of information technology. The impacts of technology are a particularly interesting means of participation and fairly untested ground with many surprises. The traditional [...]

Community planning participation and sustainable development

Urbanism Matters

The planning process is a flow of topics and action steps, where the results from one step initiate study and action in the next step. The flow can circulate, alternate or go in one direction, depending on the particular needs of the planning process. The implementation- a very important step, can be the end [...]

Solving the puzzle

Urbanism Matters

In puzzle solving, one is intended to put together the pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution. In solving today’s environmental problems, we don’t seem to be puzzle enthusiasts. The global environmental crisis calls for a restructuring of the way we live and organize our cities, towns, and [...]

Water as the new gold

Planning

Human civilization has historically flourished in areas with easy access to water. There are many regulations such as Riparian Water Rights or the Right to Water law, regulating water use as a human right, “right to equal and non-discriminatory access to a sufficient amount of safe drinking water, to sustain life and health”. The drinking [...]

Transit Oriented Development

Portfolio

Mineola has a rare advantage for a bright future. Its regional position as one of the main hubs on the Long Island Rail Road, with potential for closing the gap between two main lines, it has a great potential for redevelopment. Its current disadvantage in terms of placemaking and its lost identity- a sea of [...]

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