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46 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / June 2020 ELEMENTS Design Design Forecast Denver: Shaping the Future of Our City EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is part of Gensler’s Design Forecast Local, a series of hyper local conversations with our clients about the topics that matter most in our cities. Across the globe, cities are grappling with pressing issues such as homelessness and affordable housing, access to mobility, and combating climate change. Earlier this year, Gensler’s Denver office gathered a group of industry and community leaders for “Shaping the Future of Our City” to discuss how these challenges are being addressed in other markets, andwhat Den- ver can both teach and learn from other cities as we move forward. The private sector must lean into the public sector in order to help solve critical challenges. Through a presentation describing the history of urban redevel- opment, Gensler Southwest Co-Regional Managing Principal Rob Jernigan challenged the audience on the role that the private sector needs to take toward resolving the issues of homelessness and affordable housing. The companies and residents who continue to populate our downtown urban cores can’t sustain alone – without helping economic diversity thrive in these markets, the services that support day-to-day ac- tivities will struggle. It’s time for the private sector to lean into the public sector harder than ever. But while the market will solve most things, a little bit of regula- tionhelps. Here inour ownbackyard inDenver, the ski industry –with its focus on affordable employee hous- ing – can serve as a case study, acknowledging that a service-dependent industry should support those who serve. To be viable, modes of mobility must deliver a com- petitive experience. Dylan Jones, who leads Gensler’s Mobility Lab, reinforced the role that mobility places on the physical shape of our cities. And while tradi- tionally, mobility has been perceived simply as vari- ous modes of transportation operating along defined paths, Dylan introduced a third, and vital, aspect tomo- bility: experience. In order for new, and even existing, modes of transportation tobe viable theymust nowof- fer a competitive experience. This adds additional pres- sure to both publicly funded and sustainable modes of transportation; if they cannot deliver a competitive experience, both private and less sustainablemodes of transportationwill flourish. Community engagement can be a catalyst for au- thentic placemaking. Mixed-use entertainment dis- tricts are nothing new. However, with the current pace Adam Ambro Architect, Gensler Gensler Sports Leader Jonathan Emmett describes how the fan bases associated with professional sports teams can provide a catalyst and inspiration for truly authentic places. David Lauer Photography