Martin Gold (center left) with students and community members analyzes
strategies for the SW 20th Ave. project including a reconstruction
of 20th Ave.
as a multimodal corridor and the redevelopment of the area as an
urban village.
The work was sponsored by the Metropolitan Transportation Planning
Organization.
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Faculty Profile - Martin Gold
By DeLene Beeland
The School of Natural Resources
and Environment welcomes Martin Gold as an associate director for special
projects. Gold is spearheading the new Land Use Dynamics program - one
of SNRE's top strategic development goals
- and his expertise in community design, transport ecology, and environmental
architecture will augment SNRE strengths in natural resource management.
Gold has been an associate professor in the University of Florida School
of Architecture, College of Design,
Construction, and Planning since 1996. He will begin devoting one-quarter
of his time to SNRE.
Gold will cultivate the Land Use Dynamics program among UF faculty and will also reach
beyond university boundaries to facilitate statewide participation. He will advance a university-wide proposal for federal funding
that will join disciplines from different departments and colleges.
"I see the land use program as a fantastic opportunity to be engaged with the needs of
many communities," Gold said. He views the Land Use Dynamics program as a tool for linking university-based research to real-world
solutions that can be applied in real time. Gold says this means he can launch his ideas out of the theoretical world of the
classroom and into the real world where there is a chance to improve communities.
"Poor design processes in the built environment limit the choices people can make as to
where to buy a house and live," Gold said. "As a society, we know we need to do something different, but the processes keep
delivering the same thing."
Gold will also assist in developing an Integrative Graduate Education Research
Traineeship (IGERT) proposal to the National Science Foundation for funding graduate students. IGERT grants are intended to train
PhD scientists and engineers with interdisciplinary skills.
In addition, Gold will take part in the land use institute, a joint
venture between SNRE, New College of Florida, and Sarasota County. He
will help promote the institute's goals and offer guidance for research focusing
on managing built environments. The institute will offer regional and national
leadership in sustainable land use
through targeted research and outreach with a focus on efficient building
design, best use of natural resources, efficient planning of communities,
and transport strategies.
"My perspective is that the institute
will research critical issues that promote healthy community growth, develop
environmental stewardship growth strategies, and ultimately make specific
proposals for community design,"
Gold said. He envisions the institute exploring "smart growth" and "new urbanism" theories
as well as devising strategies to promote mixed demographics and mixed zoning
within communities.
Gold brings to SNRE his hands-on
experience studying land use issues at the community level. He is the
executive director of the Florida Community Design Center (FCDC), an
organization engaging design to solve
community problems. Most recently, FCDC produced "Transportation Ecologies," a
proposal for cycle connectivity and alternative transportation infrastructure
based on transit and bike systems in six European cities and two American
cities.
"Research is largely left out of many city or county planning projects, generally
speaking, through the request for qualifications process," Gold said. The research-based design study is intended to help guide
transportation decisions for city and county planners along with visioning studies to focus public debate on key issues.
"Transportation and land use issues
are largely design questions, not policy questions,"
Gold said. A recent study of the SW 20th Ave. area was funded by the Gainesville
Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (MTPO) and conducted
by UF architecture students. His team used field and case study information
to create design solutions for
integrating transportation, ecology, and planning toward a vibrant and diverse
urban village that links UF's arts and medical
facilities with commerce and housing along SW 20th Ave. They will present
their findings and recommendations to the MTPO this spring.
"It's not necessarily about solving the problem, it's about advancing the opportunities
a problem brings to light," Gold said.
Gold begins working with SNRE this summer.
Contact
Dr. Martin Gold
mgold@ufl.edu
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