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Established in 2005, Urbana Preservation & Planning, LLC (Urbana) is a boutique client-centric consulting firm offering specialized urban planning, historic preservation, history, cultural resource, and architectural history services throughout the United States. The firm is a single-member Limited Liability Company (LLC) managed by Founding Principal Wendy L. Tinsley Becker, RPH, AICP. Our company is headquartered out of San Diego County, California and maintains satellite locations in the San Francisco Bay Area (Oakland), the Southwest Region (Arizona), the Mountain Region (Montana), and the Midwest Region (Illinois). Urbana’s principal project team members maintain certification in the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and meet The Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for Historic Preservation Professionals in the disciplines of History and Architectural History, as well as the expanded draft Professional Qualification Standards in the disciplines of Historic Preservation and Land Use / Community Planning. All staff members are educated and continue to receive professional training in the multidisciplinary fields of historic preservation planning including history / architectural history, urban planning, political science, archaeology, architectural design / conservation, and sustainability practices.
Urbana provides services as a prime contractor, sub-contractor, and teaming partner for a variety of client types including municipalities, local, state and federal government agencies, planning and development firms, private property owners, architects, attorneys, non-profit preservation advocacy groups, allied professionals and utility providers.
Urbana's mission is to inform the future of the built environment by acknowledging the past. We educate and engage people on the history of place and the importance of recognizing and retaining historically and architecturally significant properties. We provide regulatory compliance support for owners and occupants of historic-era properties. Urbana delivers results with technical expertise, consensus-building, and creative solutions. Urbana is particularly cognizant of the relationship between historic preservation and economic development, and how social history – the history of ordinary people and places – provides focus on major issues of public debate and can inform placemaking and economic development strategies.
Safety is an important component of every Urbana project. We maintain a safety program that includes use and maintenance of proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including COVID-19 specific PPE, situational awareness training, pedestrian and auto-safety checks, location monitoring for field personnel, and daily on-board and off-boarding communications. We maintain General Commercial and Professional Liability coverage at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, with a $2M umbrella. Urbana is certified as an 8(a) and Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) firm by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). See additional certification information below.
