Patrick Coleman, AICP, is a highly versatile urban and town planner with more than 30 years of experience serving both urban and rural communities in the Upper Great Lakes Region and Alaska. His skills and experience encompass community master plans, land use and zoning, economic development, downtown revitalization, urban design and placemaking, recreation plans, trail development, and Tribal/Native community planning.
Listening, understanding the needs of clients, good communication and being responsive are key to Patrick’s success as a planning consultant.
Patrick is a strong advocate for citizen involvement and public participation in the community planning process. He has organized and facilitated numerous public planning charrettes, workshops, and public hearings. His philosophy is to create the right environment to make people feel comfortable expressing their concerns and ideas. Listening and documenting community input, and shaping the resulting concepts and plans to reflect community consensus characterize the public processes he has facilitated.
Planning in northern communities or “winter cities” must address the unique needs and opportunities of the winter season. Patrick is internationally known for his work to help communities identify unique winter opportunities, design solutions and projects that enhance winter’s positive attributes, pedestrian comfort, management and maintenance considerations. He leads the Winter Cities Institute, an online resource for northern communities found at www.wintercities.com.
Patrick works independently for clients and can assemble and serve on multi-disciplinary design teams to meet specific project needs.