Introducing Gould Evans

CUSTOMER SERVICE PHILOSOPHY

Founded in 1974 in Lawrence, KS, Gould Evans is a design firm dedicated to using our creative powers to move the world forward. Our firm culture is built on using the design process to solve problems and improve our clients’ competitive edge. We reward thought leadership that aims high—from high-performance buildings to high-performance cities.

WE VALUE collaborative, multidisciplinary approaches that lend a variety of perspectives and professional expertise to the most challenging community development issues. We believe communities are best prepared to steward long-term collective goals when they consider a wide range of possibilities for the future. We support these possibilities through well-researched analysis that leads to pragmatic outcomes.

WE VALUE our project partners and community stakeholders who provide critical insights that lead to action-oriented steps. We believe that design and planning strategies, no matter how innovative and stylish, must be economically and politically sound to be successful. We do not champion theories or trends that contradict realities and characteristics of a particular community or initiative.

WE VALUE comprehensive and long-range perspectives, and the power of leveraging incremental decisions into significant change. We believe that sustainable community development starts with the region and ends at a site or building; it is not just about what is new and exciting, but more about what is time-tested and resilient. We recognize that the success of a community is measured by generations and not just by a single initiative or project.

WE ADVOCATE

• Ownership – A bold vision requires people who care enough to be there every day.

• Education – Commitment by the community translates a vision into actions.

• Innovation – Research converts progressive ideas into strategies.

• Integration – Comprehensive perspectives organize complex systems into great communities.

• Implementation – Pragmatic courses of action create your legacy.

It needs to be a lot easier to build great communities. Knowing what matters at each scale of the city, focusing limited resources to create productive places, and creating plans that inspire action demystifies the art and science of city building by remembering that cities are made to bring people together.

OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES

We use a design-based methodology to simplify the building of cities, focusing on the systems, patterns, and types of development that create community. The systems of development including natural features, connectivity, locations, and economic markets that define the city at the citywide/regional scale. The patterns of development— civic and open space, land use, street networks, and market strategies—define a city at the neighborhood and district scale.

The types of development—streetscapes and open spaces, buildings, streets, and capital improvements—define the city at the block and lot scale. We use this organization to specify the context and places needed to create authentic, great cities.

We Design Cities for People

Great and equitable cities encourage human interaction and bring diverse sets of people together.

We Focus on Well-Designed Public Spaces

The arrangement and design of streetscapes and public spaces is a community’s primary opportunity to express their collective values and improve quality of life through public investment.

We Pursue Productive Development Patterns Understanding the public cost of development choices helps a community use its limited resources to create productive, fiscally sustainable cities and avoid creating communities it cannot afford to maintain.

We Enable Cities to be Built in Increments

A community built by many hands encourages the human- scaled, diverse places that define great cities.

We Cultivate Ownership by People

Effective city building requires local ownership. This is only possible when shared values are identified and responsibility to the greater community is cultivated among stakeholders.