As principal of Fregonese Associates, John Fregonese operates a full-service planning firm that specializes in visioning, comprehensive and small area planning, implementation strategies, and public involvement strategies.
John has been a planner for 30 years, where he has earned the rare reputation of being able both to create an energizing vision for communities and to develop concrete, workable solutions to urban problems. John is known for his work in Portland, Oregon, where he served as the planning director for five years of the regional government, Metro, and was the primary author of the regional growth concept known as Metro 2040. It is recognized nationally and has been the recipient of many national awards.
Since starting the firm in 1997, John has led a variety of planning projects, including some of the most nationally significant regional plans in recent decades. He was a key consultant in the Envision Utah process, an ongoing regional plan that has garnered national recognition, as well as the lead consultant for Chicago Metropolis 2020, the initiative by the Chicago Commercial Club to reprise the seminal Chicago Plan of 1909.
He was the consultant for Compass Blueprint, the regional vision for SCAG, the regional government of Southern California, a massive region of 38,000 square miles and 17 million people. Most recently he was a key consultant for Louisiana Speaks, Louisiana’s first regional plan for the southern Louisiana, and is lead consultant to the Big Look Task Force, a committee mandated to comprehensively review Oregon’s planning system.
In addition to his regional plans, Fregonese has led numerous comprehensive plans for large cities such as Denver and Dallas, plans and visions for small cities with ethnically diverse populations such as Watsonville and Compton, California as well as numerous small area plans for downtowns, neighborhoods, and other areas such as Talent, Oregon, Mountlake Terrace, Washington, and El Centro, California. By working at a variety of scales, Fregonese has been able to bring a practical, pragmatic approach to plans that make them implementable.
Growing up in Hollywood, Rome, and other American and European cities, he believes that his early childhood experience in different countries led to his interest in urban planning. His parents, Faith Domergue and Hugo Fregonese, both had long careers in the film industry.
If you are interested, here are some links about Faith and Hugo: