September Events

As summer winds down, our fall calendars are filling up. We hope you will join us at some upcoming events: AIA’s Urban Design Panel, PDX Design Collaborative’s Downtown to the Waterfront: The Urban Core as a Riverside Neighborhood and a grand opening celebration at Mill Park.   

Urban Design Panel 

At the upcoming Urban Design Panel on September 16, Mayer/Reed and the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) will present a Central City Urban Design Study on our waterfront. Mayer/Reed Associate Principal Shannon Simms will share results from the analysis phase, helping to identify opportunities for urban design interventions. This virtual event is free but requires advance registration. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2025
12pm – 1pm PST 
Register here 

Downtown to the Waterfront: Rethinking Portland’s Urban Core as a Riverside Neighborhood 

On September 23, PDX Design Collaborative hosts “Downtown to the Waterfront,” part of a series of events focused on transforming downtown Portland into a livable neighborhood. Representatives from Portland Parks and PBOT, leading urban designers and community organizers will discuss how Waterfront Park — and the connections to it — can play a major role in the future of downtown. Mayer/Reed Associate Principal Shannon Simms will share takeaways from the recent City of Possibility design workshop in June. This in-person event is sure to sell out, so secure your spot early! 

Tuesday, September 23, 2025
6pm – 7:30pm 
JK Gill Building (426 SW Harvey Milk St, Portland, OR 97204) 
Purchase tickets here 

Mill Park Opening Celebration 

Join us, Portland Parks & Recreation and the Southeast Portland Mill Park community for a grand opening event on September 25. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony, remarks from city officials and a host of family-friendly activities to celebrate the newly completed park. Explore the Mayer/Reed-designed playground, splash pad, community garden, fitness area and more! This community event is free and open to the public. 

Thursday, September 25, 2025
3pm – 6pm
Mill Park (1949 SE 122nd Ave, Portland, OR 97216)

Michael Reed Featured in ‘SEGD Voices of Experience’

The Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD) Voices of Experience series celebrates the legacy of Mayer/Reed Founding Partner Emeritus Michael Reed, FSEGD.

In this inspiring short film, Michael reflects on his career, design philosophy and impact on the built environment. He joins a lineup of influential experiential designers including Bruce Mau, Chris Calori & David Vanden-Eynden, Donald Meeker, Richard Burns & John Barry, Wayne Hunt, and Lance Wyman.

“Across his career, Michael has adhered to one guiding principle: the privilege of designing information systems for the public comes with the responsibility to ‘do the right thing.’ His work demonstrates that great design is not an act of personal expression but of public service.”

 Read more about Michael’s career and watch the video here.

Celebrating Summer in Mill Park

Summer is in full swing and Portland parks are buzzing with activity. To celebrate the season, Mayer/Reed gathered with friends and family for a picnic at one of our recently completed projects, Mill Park in Southeast Portland. 

It was a delight to see the space in action — the play area and splash pad packed with neighborhood kids, the bounty of the lush community garden and pick-up soccer games taking shape on the lawn. We set up our picnic in the shelter and spread out blankets in the shade of the large canopy trees. It was a perfect summer evening to celebrate community, sunshine and the joy of a new park. 

Mill Park is officially open to all and a celebration is planned for Thursday, September 25. See you in the park!

Reimagining Downtown Portland: What Comes Next? 

Building on the momentum of this spring’s Streets of Possibility event, I helped organize a workshop on June 13 to brainstorm tangible ideas for the future of downtown Portland, Oregon. Nearly 40 urban designers and creative thinkers gathered with tracing paper, markers and optimism — ready to reimagine downtown’s street network and its connections to the Willamette riverfront.  

A large map of downtown Portland is laid on a work table with trace paper over it. A group of urban designers gather with Mayer/Reed Associate Principal Shannon Simms, using markers to brainstorm ideas for new street connections in downtown Portland.

As one of the event organizers, I designed maps and created prompts to spark ideas and nudge the creative process. We asked big questions and proposed bold ideas: Why not this? What about that? Could it look like this? The ideas flowed as freely as our markers until late afternoon. 

Downtown Portland is undergoing transformation. It won’t return to what it was, nor should it. Our challenge, rather, is to help shape what it will become. Over 40% of downtown Portland’s land lies in the public realm of streets. Waterfront Park is an enormous, underutilized asset most of the year with untapped potential for connection, culture and community. This exercise helped us envision downtown as one of Portland’s neighborhoods — more than a place to just work or visit; a place to stay, play and simply be. 

Image on the left shows designers huddled over a large work table. They are pointing and using markers on trace paper to brainstorm new ideas for street connections in downtown Portland.

Real change requires action. Coming together to share ideas and see new perspectives is critical to our city’s path forward. Thank you to Randy Gragg and Will Smith of the PDX Design Collaborative for opening the doors of the JK Gill Building to host the workshop and the designers who showed up eager to sketch, discuss and push each other to think bigger and more inclusively.  

The day wrapped up with a happy hour open to the broader community and even more voices contributed to the dialogue. One seasoned participant remarked, “This is the way we used to do it” — a compliment that reminded us we’re returning to a civic culture where urban design is visionary, not reactive. Follow-up conversations are happening, and we’ll share a summary of the workshop to ensure the thinking can live on and inspire action at all levels. We invite everyone — elected leaders, civic organizations, business owners, residents — to keep imagining. Because Portland’s next chapter is unwritten, and together, we can shape it.