People Behind the Plans: Taryn Sabia

Resilience, civic infrastructure, participatory design — these
topics and more play important roles in the work of Taryn Sabia.
Taryn is the director of the Florida Center for Community Design
and Research at the University of South Florida's School of
Architecture and Community Design, where she's also a research
associate professor. In a wide-ranging conversation with host
Courtney Kashima, AICP, she talks about why planners must encourage
the development of a civic infrastructure in their communities —
and how they can do that. Taryn discusses the Mayors' Institute on
City Design, which she hosted in 2014 and 2017 and gives city
officials the opportunity to work with planners, architects, and
designers on tough development challenges in their cities. In
reflecting on the interdisciplinary nature of her work, she
underscores the need for allied professions to come together on
resiliency issues — such as building erosion due to saltwater
inundation — as many Florida communities grapple with these
realities on a daily basis.