Who We Are

Steve Davies

Senior Vice President

Steve Davies is nationally acclaimed for his work in urban revitalization. An advocate for livable communities, his work has taken him around the world as a consultant, facilitator and speaker. Having joined Project for Public Spaces in 1978, Steve is a member of its senior leadership team, and has guided the development of the organization for nearly 30 years.

With over 500 major projects on his resume, Steve is widely admired for his expertise in downtown urban design, transportation planning, and design of mixed-use development projects and public markets. Steve has directed projects ranging from downtown master plans in major U.S. cities to design improvements for streetscapes, central squares and transit malls.

Building on his extensive project experience, Steve has been instrumental in creating and shaping key programs at PPS over his tenure. Beginning in 1987, Steve helped found PPS' public market program, which focused on making markets more sustainable and community centered. Through this work, he has provided assistance to dozens of communities starting new markets and expanding existing ones. With support from the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Steve now oversees a $3 million, 3-year grant program to enhance the impacts of public markets on communities.

In 1993, Steve initiated PPS’s work in Eastern Europe, beginning with an innovative Placemaking program in the Czech Republic, supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), to revitalize public spaces in historic town centers. This work led to the founding of the Partnership for Public Spaces, which continues to fund and support public space improvement projects in cities and towns across the Czech Republic. More recently with RBF support, he has expanded this work to Serbia, and, currently, Kosovo and Montenegro.

In 1994, Steve led the development of PPS’s transportation program, completing an extensive research program on transit and livable communities, and expanding this into a broad-based transportation program which included PPS’s first Context Sensitive Solutions training program. PPS has since trained thousands of transportation professionals, and five state DOT’s in CSS.

An inspiring and accessible speaker, Steve has introduced tens of thousands of professionals to the PPS Placemaking process. Audiences have included transportation agencies, public market advocates, and hundreds of professional and community groups across the country.

Steve has co-authored and written many books and articles, including Public Markets and Community Revitalization, Managing Downtown Public Spaces and The Role of Transit in Creating Livable Metropolitan Communities.

Education

Williams College, Bachelor of Art in Art and Environmental Studies
University of California, Berkeley, Masters in Architecture

Awards & Honors

John K. Branner Traveling Fellowship in Architecture

Award Winner, National Endowment for the Arts Grant Recognition Program (West 46th Street Project)

Citation, Urban Design Newsletter Awards (Exxon Mini-Park Project)

Certificate of Merit, Municipal Art Society, New York City (Museum Mile Study)

Award Winner, National Endowment for the Arts Grant Recognition Program (Museum Mile Study)

Award Winner, International Downtown Executives Association Award, 1983 (Hartford Downtown Council/PPS Hartford Management program)

Award Winner, Presidential Design Jury, Federal Design Achievement Award, 1984, administered by the National Endowment for the Arts (H.U.D. project on downtown improvements in seven cities)