2010 - Mami Hara, ASLA, AICP,  a principal at WRT, has brought her passion and knowledge to volunteering with the Collaborative for over 10 years, first as a volunteer and currently as a member of the Collaborative’s board.

Mami has a wealth of expertise in urban design and planning. Her work primarily focuses on large-scale civic projects in urban settings. Among Mami’s projects are waterfront and river corridor plans for Philadelphia’s Central Delaware Waterfront, D.C.’s Anacostia Waterfront, and Indiana’s Wabash River. She also developed GreenPlan Philadelphia, a sustainability framework to guide long-term open space policy for the city.

Mami believes the Collaborative’s work provides an important service, “Clients get the tools they need to get funding and support for their visions, and they get an education from volunteers who can inform them about many aspects of realizing projects.”

For the Collaborative, Mami has volunteered on projects with a large-scale planning component. She has documented existing conditions to support The Allegheny West Foundation’s efforts to redevelop an industrial corridor, developed a conceptual park design for the Urban Hope Training Center, and facilitated discussions and mapping of waterfront planning issues to prepare the New Kensington CDC to participate in a master plan for the Delaware River waterfront.
 

 

Mami also got the opportunity to use her facilitation skills and delve into food security issues as moderator of the jury for Infill Philadelphia: Food Access.  She is currently working on a project with Pennhurst Memorial & Preservation Alliance to create a conceptual plan for the preservation and reuse of the Pennhurst State School and Hospital, which had a pivotal role in the disabilities civil rights movement.

“I've been lucky to have the opportunity to engage with local nonprofits at the Collaborative and work on different types of projects with a large, diverse, and active community of professionals who are interested in community development from a lot of perspectives,” says Mami.

According to Mami, Collaborative projects can be particularly beneficial for younger professionals, “Having the opportunity to stand on your own two feet and see a project through early on in your career is very healthy. Young designers need to have new experiences to grow, which includes opportunities to engage directly with clients, lead a project, and present your project to great design professionals.”

Mami thinks that civic involvement is important for professional development and building social cohesion in the city. “It’s not only the Collaborative’s clients that gain something from projects: the Collaborative helps the development of professionals from entry level to principals, and the entire city benefits from the robust social network that is created by the Collaborative’s work.”