Still patching urban fabric

PLANNING AHEAD: Barbara Sokoloff, right, says that a passion she had for community planning drove her as she grew her consultancy business in the 1980s. Also pictured is Managing Associate Derek Farias. / PBN FILE PHOTO/JAIME LOWE
PLANNING AHEAD: Barbara Sokoloff, right, says that a passion she had for community planning drove her as she grew her consultancy business in the 1980s. Also pictured is Managing Associate Derek Farias. / PBN FILE PHOTO/JAIME LOWE

Barbara Sokoloff knew one thing when she decided to start her own consulting firm nearly 30 years ago: She wanted to help transform “holes in the urban fabric” into vibrant communities.

Sokoloff, a 72-year-old Providence native, started her own business, Barbara Sokoloff Associates, a planning and development firm, in 1986.

Sokoloff initially started work in 1970 in Warwick’s planning department as she completed her master’s degree. She became planning director in 1976, a post she held until 1984. In 1985 she began working for a developer, and more than a year later, branched out on her own.

As she launched her own consultancy, gradually adding key employees, she said, the passion she had for community planning drove her. The work involves everything from financing to locating projects and overseeing development.

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“It just seemed to me the proper direction,” she said of deciding to work for herself. Cities and towns needed planning expertise, she said, describing her clientele, while on the development side, work evolved primarily, though not exclusively, with nonprofit developers.

“It was always my interest,” she recalled: “how cities develop, what makes cities dynamic, what makes living in cities work, and what makes people want to be in cities. It’s important to have healthy cities and that’s what we’re doing in Providence. And it’s not just cities; it’s villages that provide good living environments.”

Some of the latest work Sokoloff’s Providence-based agency is involved in includes development and financing for WaterFire Arts Center, and exploring possible locations for Urban Greens, a food cooperative looking to develop a facility.

Other projects her firm has consulted on include restoring a derelict building on Pier Street in Westerly for veteran housing for Operation Stand Down and Elmwood Neighborhood Revitalization plans.

The diversity and social benefit make the work rewarding, said Sokoloff.

She did not learn from any single mentor or role model.

“I learned the development business and just decided I was going to go off and do it on my own,” she said. “I felt I could make a difference in community development and planning projects.”

Early on, Barbara Sokoloff Associates did a lot of revitalization plans for municipalities, including action plans for communities as diverse as East Greenwich, Warren and Providence.

Projects for which the consultants are known include adaptive reuse of the Dreyfus Building and the Mercantile Block for AS220, the community-arts nonprofit in Providence. •

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