In an unusual public-private partnership, Harrison Design collaborated with the Santa Barbara Trust of Historic Preservation, Downtown Santa Barbara and the City of Santa Barbara to present “Santa Barbara: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” ­­– a symposium to consider the city’s present and future urban design needs.

More than 90 people, including city planners, architects, developers, property owners and engaged citizens, attended the event on June 6-8. Facing new challenges, such as state-required housing mandates, many cities across California and the country are looking for ways to revitalize their cores and provide housing for a growing population. With its well established and architecturally successful “city DNA,” Santa Barbara has many intrinsic strengths that will serve its future cityscape.

With talks, panel discussions, walking tours and an architectural drawing exhibition, participants learned how Santa Barbara developed its unique character and how those principles can be applied to help address potential challenges and needs. The symposium planted a seed for further conversations concerning the city’s urban development and rallied support for maintaining Santa Barbara’s signature architectural aesthetic.

Panelists and speakers included University of Notre Dame Professor Emeritus Dennis Doordan, PhD; Former City Mayor Sheila Lodge; Mary Louise Days, president of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation; Nicole Hernandez, associate planner and urban historian of the City of Santa Barbara, and Tim Hazeltine, an architectural historian.