Lunchtime Talk Story

Chinatown Physical Planning
With John Whalen, FAICP and Chris Smith, FAIA

John Whalen, FAICP
Founder, Plan Pacific

Mr. Whalen is an urban and regional planner whose professional career extends over 40 years and includes substantial administrative roles in government and private practice. He has undertaken numerous complex planning assignments, ranging from broad policy issues to site-specific physical development designs, in a wide variety of urban and rural settings in Hawaii. Prior to forming his consulting firm, he served as Director of Land Utilization for the City and County of Honolulu, where he had responsibility for zoning controls and land use permitting throughout the Island of O’ahu. With PlanPacific, he has been principal in charge of all planning assignments, from large-scale, comprehensive regional planning to land use entitlement work.

Chris shares his concept for the Chinatown River Walk Project

Christopher J. Smith, FAIA
President, The CJS Group Architects

Graduated from the California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo) with a Bachelor of Architecture. He is the president of the CJS Group Architects, Ltd., a firm that shapes the environments, which preserve the past, respond to the present and anticipate the future. Through innovative research, succinct program analysis and creative design, spaces become…places to work, places to live, places to grow.