4th Coast Consulting

Urban planning and land use specialists focused on the Upper Midwest

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Our approach

Physically present

We believe in a “boots-on-the-ground” approach to understanding locational challenges. We visit our clients in person, experience the places they inhabit, and create data-driven solutions backed by real-world observations.

People first

In a world quickly being overtaken by boilerplate AI solutions, we take a humanized approach to tackling planning challenges. No LLM can replace the value of expertise combined with critical thinking.

Interdisciplinary

Founded by a computational urban geographer and a qualitative entrepreneurship scholar, we have an unconventionally holistic perspective. This guides our focus on both people and place.

Internationally experienced

Drawing upon extensive international travel and research experience, we have a plethora of tools, techniques, and innovative approaches at our disposal. We fuse global insights with uniquely local solutions.

Our mission

We help municipalities, MPOs, and developers make optimal land use decisions – balancing economic growth with disciplinary best practices. We have an ambitious goal to make 4th coast cities, towns, and villages the 1st places that come to mind when people think of sound urban design. Bold solutions are a part of our DNA, and we’re not afraid to push the boundaries of conventional development.

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Our Services

Comprehensive plan development and review

We take an interactive approach to creating comprehensive plans by soliciting community input and applying best practices to the creation of master plans.

Custom web application development

We develop custom geospatial web applications for retrieving community input, displaying real-time data to the public, and monitoring events of interest.

Land use analytics

We provide analyses on community perspectives, market feasibility, transportation impacts, and locational optimization.

Data pipelines and automation

Need to regularly retrieve data for a niche application or general use within your organization? We can establish a workflow that fits your needs.

Drone photography

Enhance the quality of your city’s or organization’s visual appeal with oblique and overhead imagery and video.

Interactive cartography

We produce interactive web maps of the highest quality that run on minimum system resources using R, leaflet, mapgl, and deck.gl.

Focus groups and survey implementation

Drawing on proven research techniques, we organize focus groups and administer community surveys to uncover problems, preferences, and needs of residents.

Strategic planning

Work with us to develop a focused strategy for economic growth, population growth, public space utilization, or increasing road safety.

Our Team

Matt Haffner

Co-founder

Associate professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Matt is a four season cyclist, run commuter (yes, he runs to and from work!), husband, and father of four children.

Cole Crider

Co-founder

Assistant professor in the Management and Leadership Program at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Cole is committed Cleveland sports fan (we forgive him for that), avid reader, husband, and also father of four children.