DAVEY FRIDAY
Davey Friday is an artist, urban designer, and cultural thinker whose work moves between the studio, the city, and public conversation. Across fine art, urban design, research, photography, and media, he explores how people understand themselves, shape the places around them, and create meaning through culture, memory, and everyday life.
CITY OF DALLAS ('25-present)
Working within the City of Dallas Planning and Urban Development Department, I contribute to urban design initiatives focused on strengthening the city's public realm, neighborhoods, corridors, and urban districts. My work combines research, site analysis, mapping, visualization, and design to explore opportunities for improved walkability, connectivity, public space, streetscapes, development, and urban form.
I work across scales, translating planning goals and policy into spatial ideas that examine how Dallas can become a more connected, engaging, and thoughtfully designed city.
Fair Park Development Vision
A neighborhood-scale development study exploring opportunities for infill housing, mixed-use development, and commercial activity surrounding Fair Park and the MLK DART Station. The proposal combines transit-oriented growth with context-sensitive housing prototypes inspired by the traditional shotgun house, examining how greater density can be introduced while reinforcing the scale and character of the surrounding neighborhood.
SB15 Design Guide
This project explores how Dallas could respond to Texas Senate Bill 15 through design standards that support smaller-lot single-family housing while maintaining a strong public realm. The study tests a range of lot sizes, block configurations, rear-access strategies, paseos, parking arrangements, and housing forms to understand how increased residential density can be accommodated without sacrificing walkability, landscape, or neighborhood character. Preferred scenarios emphasize rear garages, front porches, tree-lined streets, varied roof forms, and pedestrian-oriented connections as key elements of a more cohesive small-lot development pattern.
PERKINS & WILL ('22-'25)
At Perkins&Will, I worked as an Urban Designer contributing to multidisciplinary planning and design projects at a range of scales, from individual sites and districts to broader urban systems. My role combined research, spatial analysis, visualization, and design development to help shape strategies for land use, public realm, mobility, development, and placemaking. Working alongside architects, planners, landscape architects, and other specialists, I helped translate complex urban conditions into clear design concepts, frameworks, and visual narratives for clients and communities.
Ford City Mall Redevelopment Study
Ford City Mall, located at the edge of the City of Chicago, has been experiencing a steep decline due to changing trends in American shopping patterns. Today, Ford City Mall is struggling building surrounded by a sea of parking. Our team was commissioned by the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development to revision a future of the mall that is congruent with the city's development goals and community needs. We saw an opportunity to leverage the density of the surrounding neighborhood, provide "missing middle housing," park & recreation space, and amenity space to transform 94 acres of asphalt to a vibrant neighborhood.
71st Street Corridor Redevelopment Pursuit
71st Street, a major corridor in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, has endured decades of disinvestment and economic pressure despite its strong urban context, transit access, and development potential. Our team pursued the opportunity to study the corridor’s redevelopment and was ultimately selected to lead the work.
Englewood Five-Node Master Plan Pursuit
As part of Perkins&Will’s response to the 2024 Englewood Master Plan RFP, I contributed to a proposal focused on five priority commercial corridor nodes across the neighborhood. The pursuit explored how urban design, public-realm improvements, development strategy, and coordinated investment could strengthen each node while connecting them into a broader framework for neighborhood revitalization and community wealth-building. Although our team was not ultimately selected, the effort developed a place-based vision rooted in Englewood’s existing assets and long-term potential.
Florida Corridor Master Plan
Perkins&Will led the development of the Florida Corridor Plan, a comprehensive vision for roughly 12 miles of Florida Street and Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge. Commissioned by Build Baton Rouge, the plan examined transportation, land use, urban design, community development, and equitable reinvestment, with particular attention to reconnecting neighborhoods historically divided by racial and economic disparities. More than 4,000 residents and stakeholders participated in the planning process, helping shape recommendations around pedestrian safety, mobility, mixed-use development, neighborhood centers, and cultural identity. Perkins Will
The plan was approved by the Baton Rouge Planning Commission in August 2024 and later adopted by the Metropolitan Council, establishing it as an official framework for future redevelopment and investment along the corridor.
