Senior Associate Editor
Taryn Sabia’s fifteen-year career in architecture and urban design is anchored by a passion to involve citizens in actively shaping the built environment. Her diverse background in architecture, urban design, education, and community engagement has provided a deep understanding of the importance of context-based design, mobility, and culture of place, and how these elements inform community design. She is an advocate for using design to create prosperity for inclusive neighborhoods in her long-time home of Tampa.
Taryn is Director of the Florida Center for Community Design and Research (FCCDR) at the University of South Florida’s School of Architecture and Community Design. As a Research Associate Professor, she manages projects concerning urban design policy, climate change adaptation and resiliency, urban form, urban transportation systems, and community engagement. Her research is committed to the merging of design and civics, with focus on equity, climate change adaptation, transit oriented development, and affordable housing. With extensive experience building partnerships between community members, organizations, and government leaders, Taryn has advised 39 mayors as Director of FCCDR. She is currently PI on the Hillsborough Community Vulnerability Study overseeing a multidisciplinary team.
She has worked professionally in the field of architecture on projects focused on mixed-use development, historic preservation, and downtown façade redevelopment programs. Taryn has planned and facilitated over 100 public charrettes and workshops and has authored several articles about community engagement and urban design including a publication in the National Civic Review. In 2014 and 2017, Taryn led the East Regional Session Mayor’s Institute for City Design program. She has presented numerous times at national and regional conferences and has served as Chair for the American Institute of Architects’ Regional and Urban Design Leadership Group.
Her current work is focused on a pilot planning study for the Wimauma Community Plan Update—a partnership with the Hillsborough County Planning Commission. Equity, affordable housing, economic opportunity, and transfer of develop rights (TDR) are central to the plan. In partnership with the USF College of Public Health, Taryn is the FCCDR representative on the national American Institute of Architects Design and Health Research Consortium.
Taryn earned her Master of Urban and Community Design from the University of South Florida, Master of Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design where she served as a Senate Fellow to the Senior Policy Advisor for the Rhode Island Senate. She holds a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor Degree in Visual Art from Eckerd College.