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ABOUT US

KELLENBERG STUDIO

Urban Planning & Design

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Steven Kellenberg

Steven Kellenberg is an urban planner and designer with over 40 years of experience in town planning, redevelopment, business parks and town center urban design. 

 

He currently heads Kellenberg Studio, a boutique planning and urban design firm providing senior advisory services and utilizing affiliations with other firms and practitioners to respond to unique town planning and redevelopment assignments.

Prior to starting his own firm, in 2017, he served for five years as Senior Vice President at the Irvine Company in Newport Beach as a leader of the company’s Urban Planning and Design department. There he focused on building out the Irvine Ranch master plan as well as large scale redevelopment in Silicon Valley, San Diego and Orange County.  He also led a GIS-based team in developing innovative analytical tools for property acquisition and gauging redevelopment feasibility.

 

Prior to joining the Irvine Company, he worked 15 years at EDAW/AECOM and 16 years at Phillips, Brandt and Reddick (PBR) where he consulted with new community developers such as DMB, Newhall Land and Farming, Rancho Mission Viejo, Shea Homes, Lewis Companies and others including several in the Middle East, China, Singapore and South America. Projects included Rancho Santa Margarita, Ladera Ranch, Valencia, Summerlin, Verrado, multiple villages on the Irvine Ranch and multiple new communities worldwide.

 

Steve also is known for research and development in the field of sustainability.  While at AECOM his team developed the Sustainable Systems Integration Model (SSIM) which games sustainability scenarios for building and infrastructure systems on multi-use projects at the district and community scale.  His approach to sustainability was unique in that it integrated both performance and financial impact in order to develop comprehensive solutions at the lowest cost to developers and the public sector.  SSIM was notably used in developing a new master plan and sustainability strategy for over 150 million square feet of buildings in the Marina Bay District in Singapore, which over the next 35 years will double the size of that country’s CBD.

 

Steve has on-the-ground development experience in the Sierra Foothills where he has developed two Conservation Development projects which explore new avenues for ecologically based development with the hope of providing a model that avoids rural sprawl. 

 

He has taught for 20 years in the USC Master of Real Estate Development program, teaching the interface of market, finance and design, as well as, co-authored two books with ULI and one with Harvard University.

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BOOKS

  • Developing Sustainable Planned Communities, Co-Author, Urban Land Institute, 2007

  • Great Planned Communities, Co-Author, Urban Land Institute, 2002

  • The 21th Century New Town, Co-Author, Harvard University

EDUCATION

  • Master of Urban Design w/Honors, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, 1980

  • Bachelor of Science, Landscape Architecture, Iowa State University, 1976

AFFILIATIONS

  • Project Advisory Panel Member, Urban Land Institute

  • Executive Advisor, Orange Section of California American Planning Association Board of Directors

  • Chairman, Community Development Council, Urban Land Institute

  • Policy and Program Committee, Urban Land Institute

  • Board of Advisors, USC, Masters Urban Planning

  • Advisory Board, ULI Orange County / Inland Empire District Council

TEACHING

  • Adjunct Associate Professor, Masters of Real Estate Program, University of Southern California

  • Guest Lecturer, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

  • Guest Lecturer, ULI Executive Teaching Program

AWARDS + HONORS

  • California Homebuilding Foundation 2021 Hall of Fame

  • ULI Award of Excellence: Ladera Ranch

  • ULI Award of Excellence: Valencia Town Center

  • BIA HBF Hall of Fame (2021 Induction)

  • PCBC Grand Award: Ladera Ranch

  • PCBC Grand Award: The Preserve at Chino

  • PCBC Grand Award: Verrado New Community

  • PCBC Award of Merit: Terramor at Ladera Ranch

  • PCBC Award of Merit:  Avendale at Ladera Ranch

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