Geoff Dyer is a contemporary Urban Designer born out the the re-emergence of the profession as part of the 1980’s New Urbanism, a polemic resistance to the automobile focus urban planning and transportation practices that dominated after the WWII. Mentored by the movement’s leaders Liz Plater-Zyberk, Andrés Duany, Rob and Leon Krier, Peter Calthorpe, Steve Mouzon, Stefanos Polyzoides, and Karen and Daniel Parolek, Geoff forged a successful urban design practice locally in his adopted City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and on the national stage as an educator and lead designer for PlaceMakers. Today, Geoff leads a unique Western-Canada urban design studio as part of B&A Studios, and now as part of national player CIMA+.
Geoff continues as a thought leader in Citybuilding and urban design as a fellow in the Urban Guild, board VP in the Council for Canadian Urbanism, and as an accredited member of the Congress for the New Urbanism.
Geoff’s profile and portfolio can be best viewed through three distinct periods: His formative first decade as founder and lead designer in his first firms that evolved from Calgary-based Civic Design Group, to T-Six Urbanists, and finally to PlaceMakers Canada (2003-2013). His second as the first Director Design and eventual CEO for Downtown Lafayette, Louisiana (2013-1018), and finally to lead urban designer to Calgary based B&A studios (2018-2025) and their recent acquisition by CIMA+. The next era 2025 -? should be an interesting final chapter as he continues to mentor a talented cast of young urban designers, preparing them to take on the continued struggle to build better, more sustainable, and more lovable Cities.
Lafayette: 2013-2018
PlaceMakers: 2003-20013
On August 1 of 2013, Geoff Dyer accepted the position of Director of Design for the City of Lafayette, Louisiana Downtown Development Authority. A professional Urban Designer, Geoff was previously the Principal and Director of Design for U.S Based Placemakers llc, and Founder and Principal of Placemakers Canada Inc. He is a regular educator, lecturer, and writer on the subject of sustainable urbanism, urban design, alternative land use regulations and development standards - particularly form based codes and the SmartCode, and is an expert in the design of walkable, mixed use environments.
For over ten years he has run a successful Calgary-based urban design firm focused exclusively on the design and implementation of walkable, mixed-use urbanism that exemplify Smart Growth, New Urbanism, LEEDND, and the many other contemporary movements towards human scaled urbanism. To date he has completed over 100 projects in 19 U.S. States and 4 Canadian Provinces as a professional, principal urban designer. Of these projects, he has served the role as Project Principal and Lead Designer for 60 projects, and 27 of these with the additional role of Project Manager. As a partner and principle in U.S based Placemakers llc, Geoff served as the design team lead, managing the design component and collaboratively co-authoring most of the firm’s over 40 form-based codes and SmartCodes, of which over 25 have been adopted to date.
Geoff holds a Master in Environmental Design (Urban Design) from the University of Calgary, a Bachelor of Science in Design (cum laude) from Arizona State University, and received a Knight Fellowship in Community Building from the University of Miami. He is an accredited member of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU-A: A Designation earning one LEEDND point), a member of the New Urban Guild, served as a jury member for the 2008 CNU Charter Award chaired by Andrés Duany, and has received several awards. Geoff is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.
Today he fills the unique position as Director of Design for the City of Lafayette, Louisiana Downtown Development Authority where he has turned his attention toward building an innovative national model for implementing and building an ambitious downtown redevelopment plan.