Emily Weidenhof is the Director of Public Space at NYC DOT working closely with community groups throughout the five boroughs to re-imagine their streets as public space. She’s focused on the role of the public realm in strengthening communities for over a decade, deeply involved in policy, management, legislation, and most recently leading efforts to create Shared and Seasonal Streets in New York City.

Jeffrey Shumaker, AICP, has been working at the intersection of architecture, urban design and planning for more than twenty-five years, in both the public and private sectors, and in cities across the globe. He served the City of New York as its Chief Urban Designer and held leadership roles in some of the world’s top architecture, urban planning and design firms.

Jonathan Hawkins is the Manager of Streetscape and Planning for the Garment District Alliance, working to improve the quality of life in a dense and vibrant Midtown neighborhood. He previously held roles at MTA New York City Transit and the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University.

​​Melissa is an Associate at MNLA who has practiced professionally within the landscape and architecture fields in New York and Los Angeles prior to joining the firm in 2015. Within the studio, she leads projects that span across multiple scales and typologies, including parks, streetscapes, urban plazas, multifamily residential, and large scale waterfront developments. Her work emphasizes the transformative impact that thoughtful design, placemaking, and sustainability can have on the built environment and those who inhabit it. She received a Master of Landscape Architecture with distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 2012 and a Bachelor of Architecture, cum laude, from the University of Southern California in 2007.