Alexis Spurlock | Planning and Design Portfolio 2023-24

Alexis Spurlock

About Me

My name is Alexis, but most people call me Lexi! I’m currently studying Urban Planning at the University of Cincinnati college of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning. I initially started at the University majoring in Architecture, but realized I was far more interested in the people I was designing for, rather than the aesthetics, though don’t get me wrong I definitely appreciate nice aesthetics!

Once I discovered my desire to switch majors, I dove headfirst into planning and found a plethora of ways to test my interests and grow my knowledge. I took planning electives alongside graduate students as an undecided freshman. I worked with Artworks Cincinnati on a mural and community engagement intiatives after discovering a particular interest in public art and placemaking. I got an internship in my hometown following my first year of planning, utilizing my final free summer to advance my experience. These experiences have all shaped who I am as a planner and person.

As an aspiring urban planner, I am highly aware of the importance of representation and accessibility as a pathway to creating inclusive spaces for all. Whether it be through design, policy-making, or community engagement, these principles form the foundation of my work.

Contact

513-816-2779 (Mobile)

spurloas@mail.uc.edu (Email) tinyurl.com/spurlock1 (Linkedin) 1430 Alexander Drive Hamilton, OH 45013

Education

University of Cincinnati

April 2026 Cincinnati, OH.

Bachelor of Urban Planning

Participating in the Professional Practice Program, alternating semesters with classroom studies with work in the field of design.

Hamilton High School

May 2021 Hamilton, OH

Top 10, Student Body President

Skills

· Adobe Creative Suite

· ArcGIS Pro, Storymaps, and Experience Builder

· TwinMotion

· Rhino

· SketchUp

· QGIS

Achievements

Deans List

University of Cincinnati

Fall 2022 - Spring 2024

Magna Cum Laude

Hamilton High School

Spring 2021

Experience

Zoning and Graphics CO-OP, ZoneCO Cincinnati, OH (January 2024 - Present)

· Create regulatory graphics representing certain regulations to foster clearer understanding of Zoning Codes.

· Review existing Zoning language and revise to make it easier for general public to understand.

· Design and layout Zoning Codes, Zoning diagnostics, reports, and marketing materials.

· Research existing conditions pertaining to regulations such as setbacks, building form, and uses.

· Plan and conduct community engagement events.

Civic Studio Artist, Cincinnati Artworks Cincinnati, OH (December 2022 - January 2024)

· Plan and execute community engagement events with artistic activities that also collect participants’ opinions on the future of Cincinnati monuments.

· Research and log existing Cincinnati monuments into a database to track trends within the landscape.

· Utilize ArcGIS mapping and experience builder to create an interactive Cincinnati Monument Audit.

· Consolidate work into comprehensive report to inform the creation of future Cincinnati monuments.

Planning Intern, City of Hamilton Hamilton, OH (May 2023 - August 2023)

· Attended public meetings pertaining to city-wide issues such as residential parking permits, short-term rental regulations, zoning changes, etc.

· Conducted research on previously mentioned topics beforehand to create information sheets and community surveys.

· Collaborated with coworkers on research projects for the Architectural Design Review Board.

· Co-led an initiative to install Free Little Libraries in two of Hamilton’s public parks.

Regulatory Graphics

ZoneCo Co-op | Spring 2024

Despite being public documents, zoning codes are notoriously littered with confusing jargon, vague regulations, and complicated processes. They contain a variety of important information which affects anyone from developers to business and homeowners, but are extremely difficult for the general public to understand.

ZoneCo LLC focuses on creating clear, concise, userfriendly, and equitable zoning codes. One tool used to improve user-friendliness is regulatory graphics. These help to illustrate complex parts of a code and create examples showcasing compliance with the regulations.

These graphics can be used directly within a zoning code, or as a catalyst for engaging with communities in a way which is accessible to the general public.

This activity focuses on the physical character of developments in the study area Below are some design elements that can be regulated through zoning. Place any color dot on the arrows to signify your preference for each regulation.

The two pages above are from Twinsburg, Ohio’s zoning code draft and the larger “board” is a community engagement activity all using regulatory graphics created by me.

The skech and graphic above visually represent the following regulation: “One and two-story building roofs may be hipped or gabled. Three-story buildings must have a flat roof.”

Graphics created at ZoneCo are categorized into two types: Regulatory and Illustrative. Regulatory graphics are usually simple diagrams, representing a more concrete topic. Illustrative are usually used as decor, to spruce up a code and represent the desired visual character of a place. In some cases, there are chances to merge the two concepts and create graphics that are both visually rich and informative.

One project I worked on where this was the case was the code for Palm Beach, Florida. The town was very interested in preserving the visual character within the built environment, so therefore wanted to ensure that graphics were detailed and stylized specifically to the character of Palm Beach.

Because these graphics involved detailed 3-D models, all created in SketchUp, it was important for me to create sketches how exactly how I wanted the final graphic to look, including the annotations. This helped to guide the look of the buildings, the layout, and the view needed for the exports.

The skech and graphic above visually represent the following regulation: “A third story shall be set back at least half way from the front to the rear of the building. The remainder of the third floor roof area shall be used for residential living purposes only.”

New Monuments Initiative

ArtWorks Civic Studio | 2023-24

While planning often revolves around the physical implications of the built environment or the resolution of policy-related issues such as zoning, transportation, and housing, it is easy to overlook the profound impact that design and art can have on a community. Amidst the pressing and tangible everyday challenges, we tend to forget the significance of representation, or rather, the lack thereof, within our cities, particularly in minority communities. It is in this aspect that we, as a society, fall short.

Artworks’ inaugural, year-long civic studio focused on analyzing the existing monumental landscape within the city of Cincinnati and engaging with under-served communities to discover how new monuments can better represent Cincinnati’s culture and history. We designed and excited a number of community engagement events centered on arts-based research methods and summarized the data in a comprehensive report.

To the left is the cover of the engagement report and the two pages above are from the Key Findings section. Click on the cover to check out the full report!

New Monuments Initiatve

With such a complex task and a team of ten artists, everyone fell into their own niches and took responsibility of tasks which fell in their wheelhouse. I was very fortunate to have a hand in many different aspects of the project, but engagement planning and the audit of the existing monument landscape became my main tasks.

Designing engagement activities that were both fun for event attendees and able to garner responses was a somewhat challenging but creative endeavor which soon became my forte. At our event with Queens Village, focused on celebrating black mothers, we them write a dedication to a monumental women (someone who deserves to be memorialized, even if they are currently not) on a small sheet of paper and submit a picture of their response using a QR code in the corner. After that, we led them in creating paper flowers out of these sheets of paper which they can then give to a monumental women in their life or keep for themselves! Everyone who participated was able to take home a watering-can shaped card with a pack of Native Ohio wildflower seeds.

Through this project, I got to lead a total of 4 events, work on the planning team for 10 events, and helped to design engagement activities utilized at almost every event.

The pages above are from two different event proposal documents I created. The first two are for the studio’s Little Amal event and the last two are from Blossoms and Blooms, the event described above for black women and mothers.

Above are two spreads from the engagement report, one summarizing the Little Amal event and the other summarzing Blossoms and Blooms. The additional pictures are from each event.

Cincinnati Monument Audit

ArtWorks Civic Studio | 2023-24

Before we could begin engaging with the community to discover what they were hoping to see in future monuments, it was important for us to understand what the monumental landscape currently looked like in Cincinnati. I was shocked to learn there is no comprehensive record of monuments anywhere.

The idea for the Civic Studio to conduct an audit of the existing Cincinnati monuments was inspired by the National Monument Audit completed by Philadelphia based non-profit Monument Lab. While the information on the 50,000 monuments logged in that audit were incredibly valuable to the audit in our report, there were a number of gaps in the Cincinnati area. It was clear that conducting a monument audit by every-day experts, would be most effective at a local-level, to ensure little known monuments that may otherwise fly under the radar are not forgotten.

Having discovered that there was no accessible way for people to easily find out about monuments near them, I decided to use my GIS skills to take the project to a step further and make our collected data accessible to the general public.

The image above is a screenshot of the interactive map included in the Cincinnati Monument Audit webpage. Click the screenshot to the right to check out the site!

Cincinnati Monument Audit

All the monument entries were logged in a spreadsheet with the following information (if applicable): Monument name, any alternative name, text on any plaque or adjacent signage, a description, latitude and longitude, street address, neighborhood, key words (or tags), honorees, creators, sponsors, URL source, and photo source.

Once the studio helped to log all of the monuments, I transferred the google spreadsheet to ArcGIS and created a map of all the monuments with the information attached to them. I used this map and ESRI experience builder to further design and create a web-page centered around sharing the audit’s information with the public - with a mobile view as well!

All the images collected were compiled into the monument gallery, another page within the website. Each image has the name and address of the monument, as well as the description on the back.

The image above is a screenshot of the monument gallery, with blown up examples of the front and back of a monument image. When you hover over an image, it will flip to reveal the description.

Mapping

ArcGIS, Google Earth, and Hand-drawn | 2023-24

Mapping is one of my favorite parts of the planning profession. I enjoy utilizing a plethora of softwares to create stylized maps presenting information geospatially.

To the right is a map which used google earth, which can be seen in the background, and a mix of information from ArcGIS and the use of Adobe Illustrator.

The map represents ecological strategies for a Queensgate project I’m working on this summer in studio.

Both maps above were created as part of an English Woods site analysis assignment. On top is a watershed map showing the direction in which water will flow in and around the site. On the bottom is a topography map with exact elevations of key spots on the site.Both maps feature the neighborhood outline and Sutter Avenue running through. All information was found in ArcGIS.

The map to the right higlights the green space and tree canopy in Philadelphia. All the features within the Center City boundary are at full opacity with the surroundings at a lower opacity. All information was found in ArcGIS and the layout was created in the software as well.

Digital Graphics

Adobe Creative Suite | 2023-24

The first graphic is a representation of the layers of the urban heat island effect in Queensgate. On top is the tree canopy map, in the middle is impervious surfaces, and on the bottom is the average land surface area temperature.

The first graphic to the right is a collaged-impression map of the Walnut Hills neighborhood in Cincinnati. It features images arranged by location within a cutout boundary of the neighborhood. All images were taken on a site visit in January of 2023. The photos were taken into Photoshop, cut out with the pen tool, recolored, and then transfered to illustrator where the collage was created.

On the very right is a SWOT analysis map of Walnut Hills.

The red arrows represent the threat of gentrification and conflict between the somewhat segregated pockets in the neighborhood. The blue areas represent the strengths of the neighborhood such as the multiple cultural amenities and existing urban fabric. Green areas are spots that present opportunities for development and the roads have a yellow glow to highlight the weak roadway system.

Community Engagement Essay | 2024 Writing Sample

As an aspiring urban planner, I am highly aware of the importance of representation and accessibility as a pathway (or avenue) to creating inclusive spaces for all. Whether it be through design, policy-making, or community engagement, these principles form the foundation of my work. While urban planning often revolves around the physical implications of the built environment or the resolution of policy-related issues such as zoning, transportation, and housing, it is easy to overlook the profound impact that design and art can have on a community. Amidst the pressing and tangible everyday challenges, we tend to forget the significance of representation, or rather, the lack thereof, within our cities, particularly in minority communities. It is in this aspect that we, as a society, fall short.

Growing up, I was oblivious to the privilege intrinsically connected to being seen and validated in my identity by the public art around me. As a White person, I find my race over represented in public art throughout the bronze and granite

statutes that adorn the cityscape. These familiar figures simply blended into the background, their frequency making it unnecessary for me to seek out monuments dedicated to individuals of my own ethnicity. Regrettably, I failed to realize the monotony of these representations, the absence of diversity, and the impact it had on those who could not easily find figures akin to themselves. It was not until my freshman year of college, when I enrolled in a planning elective called Public Art and Space, that I was truly enlightened about the profound influence of representation in public art on a community.

It was during this time that I discovered Cincinnati Artworks, a remarkable non-profit organization that had been working tirelessly for nearly three decades to create captivating murals across various neighborhoods in Cincinnati. Intrigued by their mission, I took a leap of faith and joined one of their summer mural projects as an apprentice, an experience that captivated me wholeheartedly. This mural, in particular, was created for a retirement

home for minority and low-income seniors. We would paint every week-day from nine to one, and without fail a group of residents would gather by the hall window to watch the progress. They would stare in awe, pointing out their favorite new pieces and waving excitedly to us as we would pass by. Because of their excitement, we decided to host a community paint day specifically for the residents. This was by far my favorite day on the project. Talking with a few of the residents, I discovered low-income housing, in general, is often under-maintained and residents in these developments are commonly overlooked. This was one of the first times they were able to see the creative placemaking going on throughout the city come to them. The thought struck something within me. I joined this project initially because I enjoyed painting and I was interested in learning to create on a large-scale, but I left that day with a new passion. It was clear that I could utilize my skills and talents to bring joy to communities who are often under-served and I was not going to stop.

Thus, when the organization posted a position for their new Civic Studio Artist role, I seized the opportunity without hesitation. Although the job description was somewhat vague, I discerned that I would have the opportunity to work closely with communities and contribute to the future of

placemaking—a challenge that perfectly aligned with my aspirations. Two months later, I was thrilled to receive the news that I had been offered a position on the team.

Taking this opportunity was undoubtedly a lifealtering experience, surpassing all my expectations. Over the course of 2023, I had the privilege of collaborating with an exceptional team to engage with individuals in Cincinnati’s under-served communities. Our primary objective was to understand their needs, aspirations, and desires for the creation of future monuments. This work exposed me to a plethora of diverse perspectives and stories, opening my eyes to the myriad ways in which representation and art can empower and uplift communities.

When most people hear the word “monument,” they envision grandiose structures such as the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, or Mount Rushmore. However, the true essence of a monument has become blurred by interpretation, leading to a prevailing perception that monuments predominantly consist of bronze or stone statues honoring white war heroes or elected officials. Unfortunately, this narrow definition has rendered them exclusive, repetitive, and seemingly

Writing Sample

insignificant. At their core, monuments are intended to represent notable individuals, events, or concepts, thereby embracing a multiplicity of stories within our diverse communities. Yet, the current monument landscape fails to reflect this vision.

Statistical analysis reveals a disconcerting disparity in monument representation. For instance, although women comprise approximately 50.4% of the United States population, they are represented by a mere 6% of the top individuals recognized in the National Monument Audit conducted by Monument Lab, a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization. Similarly, African Americans, constituting approximately 13.6% of the population, are severely underrepresented in monuments. It was only in 2011 that the installation of the Martin Luther King Jr. monument offered a prominent black figure within the monument landscape. Astonishingly, among the top individuals recognized through monuments, 50% were slaveowners, while only 10% were black or indigenous.

My work in under-served communities over the last year has exposed me to a multitude of perspectives and narratives that were previously unfamiliar to me. Despite growing up in a fairly diverse community and being surrounded by individuals from different backgrounds, I was not truly immersed in the cultures and experiences of others in my everyday life. Public

art and monuments depicting immigrant stories, civil rights battles, or different races and ethnicities were scarce in my city, despite its vibrant and diverse population. Considering we are often referred to as the City of Sculpture, this lack of representation is most certainly not due to a shortage of resources. I can’t help but wonder how changed my perspectives would be if I had been exposed to various stories through public art as a child.

As an urban planner, I am committed to promoting equal representation and accessibility. Public art and monuments play a vital role in fostering inclusive and vibrant communities. By engaging with under-served communities and amplifying their diverse stories and experiences, we can rectify the existing disparities in monument representation. Through initiatives like the Civic Studio, we can cultivate inclusive placemaking that ensures every individual sees themselves reflected in the fabric of their environment. It is through these efforts that we can create truly inclusive cities that celebrate the diversity and richness of our communities.

Thank you!

Questions? Comments? Feel free to reach out!