Galina Tachieva is the managing partner of DPZ CoDESIGN, directing the work of the firm in the US and around the world. With more than 25 years of expertise in sustainable planning, urban redevelopment and form-based codes, Galina is the author of the “Sprawl Repair Manual”, an award-winning publication by Island Press, which focuses on the retrofit of auto-centric suburban places into complete walkable communities.
Multilingual, Galina has experience with projects across the United States, Latin America, Europe and Russia, including downtowns and urban revitalizations, regional plans, environmental conservation, new communities, and resort towns. Managing complex projects and teams, she has led charrettes and other public processes, from project initiation through implementation.
Galina maintains an active civic engagement. A Fellow of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) she has been leading its national Sprawl Retrofit Initiative. She is a founding member of the Council for European Urbanism (CEU), and she has lectured throughout the world. She has been a visiting lecturer and design critic at Harvard University, the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), and at the University of Miami, among others.
Born and raised in Bulgaria, she received her architectural education at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia, Bulgaria. Later, Galina received her Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Miami School of Architecture. Galina is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and is a LEED-Accredited Professional.
Book Contributions
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Retrofitting Sprawl: Addressing Seventy Years of Failed Urban Form
Chapter 12: Occupy sprawl, One Cul-de-Sac at a Time Sprawl should be repaired but it will happen incrementally, slowly, at a micro scale, one element at a time. There is a need to challenge outdated regulations, bringing more flexibility, adaptability, and enterprise to subdivisions and cul-de-sacs. Galina Tachieva p. 241
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Christoph Gielen: Ciphers
Imported, Exported and Perhaps Repaired – American Sprawl Around The Globe When encountering American-style sprawl around the World, I’m often compelled to ask the question, “Why are you repeating our mistakes?”. The explanation I most frequently hear is, “If it worked for America, it will work for us”. As the photographs in this book suggest,…
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Anonymization: The Global Proliferation of Urban Sprawl
Solving Sprawl What meaning are we to take from Christoph Gielen’s photographs of sprawl? Tract homes and supporting infrastructure are visually enticing from his 10,000-foot view, appearing as intricate, maze like patters. But on the ground, the relentless schemata of wide streets and lawns produce a host of problems. Galina Tachieva p. 49
Articles
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Lonely Last Days in the Suburban Office Park
Many office parks beyond the Toys “R” campus have a standard look: “lots of curved surface parking and square buildings,” the Georgia Tech professor Ellen Dunham-Jones said. Between the lack of sustainability and aggravation by the work-from-home lifestyle boosted during COVID-19, these office parks are becoming increasingly outdated and deserted. As laid out in the…
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Sprawl Repair – The next frontier in residential innovation
The Policy Watch section of the National Association of Home Builders’ quarterly magazine featured our new article on Sprawl Repair – The next frontier in residential innovation. Changing demographics, retail trends and lifestyle choices are establishing a new frontier for Home builders interested in helping to transform our suburbs, with actions targeted toward establishing urban…
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Here’s what could happen to America’s hundreds of dead malls
It appears that the mall as we know it may be dead. Long live the retrofitted mall! New uses, new infill, new life for the king of the American consumerism. Read more about retrofit options that can boost an entire community from Leanna Garfield of the Business insider: “More than 6,400 store locations have announced…
Events and Lectures
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