Forum discussion

Welcome to SCDL, let's introduce ourselves!

Hello Sustainable Community Design Leaders!

Let’s take a moment, introduce ourselves, and get to know each other and our work! Don’t forget to fill out your BG.com profile with your headshot and bio; this is how everyone across Green Gurus can see you in the Member Directory

I’ll kick us off! I'm RoseAnn, I also go by Rose, Peer Networks Manager at BuildingGreen. My focus has largely been community health at one scale, lens, or another for the past 10+ years. This has ranged from providing social services or community engagement/outreach, to supporting professionals in the building industry who do amazing work! I am motivated by efforts that empower communities to create spaces and places that meet their needs to thrive. Projects that tackle complex problems at the bioregional level, by centering equity and justice for people and our natural environment, inspire me to continue my work.

I’m looking forward to collaborating with you all and seeing what exciting projects this group of passionate changemakers can co-create. 

Now how about all of you: What motivates you to do the work you do?! 

Warmly,

Rose

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Thu, 02/11/2021 - 19:22

Hi everyone! My name is Nicole and I'm an Architect at Arrowstreet. Most of my experience has focused on sustainability at the building scale. However, I'm currently pivoting toward master planning work so that I can center my career on design that promotes climate resiliency and equity across communities. I've long been interested in how climate change can be addressed in ways that promote social and economic justice, and I'm thrilled to be fully engaging this interest. I am inspired by the excellent work that I've seen others in this group doing to promote social sustainability! Cheers, Nicole

Fri, 02/12/2021 - 13:32

Hey all, I'm Steven Baumgartner.   Good to connect.   I am an engineer/planner and spent most of my career with big integrated design firms driving integrated sustainable solutions at scale (districts, universities, even city- and regional-scale).  Lots of physical planning work focused on infrastructure, energy, water, transporation, food... what I refer to as 'urban systems' but also a lot of experience with Strategic and Vision planning focused on Sustainability.  I commit a lot of my time to EcoDistricts, ULI and a council in NY led by Van ALen Institute.  I stood up my own consultancy last year, Baumgartner Urban Systems Strategy or BUSS (rhymes with goose!).  More on me and BUSS here, including a quick 2 min video which attempts to sum up my world:  www.baumgartneruss.com As I am now a one-man band, I am more motivated to further expand my network through this platform and connect with more like-minded SMEs.  Looking forward to hearing more of your stories and sharing a few of my own. Best. Steven  

Tue, 02/16/2021 - 23:27

Hi all - Looking forward to seeing/meeting you all on Zoom this week! In the interim, more about me: I'm an unsettled settler born on the Indigenous territories of the Anishinaabe and the Haudenosaunee at the Eastern tip of the Niigaani gichigami (currently known as Lake Ontario); and I now live on the stolen Indigenous territories of the Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil Waututh) Nations with my partner and five year old daughter in the place currently known as Vancouver on what was a thriving intertidal community for millenia prior to colonization. By training, I'm an Architect and Regenerative Practitioner (with studies in systems ecology and complex adaptive systems). I was formerly the SDL for DIALOG (an integrated architecture, planning and engineering firm primarily based in Canada), and then PM at Local Practice; but on the heels of the IPCC landmark report I struck out to start my own practice focused to better help empower intergenerational health equity, focusing on building collaborative capacity >buildings. Over the past 11 years I've had the pleasure of working with amazing teams on a wide range of projects, including: the AIA-honors winning Crosstown Concourse project in Memphis,TN; passive house MURBs in the lower mainland, and regenerative regional wastewater treatment infrastructure.

I currently work with municipalities, regional health authorities and other organizations to help build capacity for intergenerational health equity into projects and organizational planning, etc. - from framework development and transformation programs to public engagement. Outside the office, some SCDL-related roles include: City of Vancouver's Collaborative Leadership Advisory; teaching in the Masters of Architecture, Masters of Engineering Leadership, and Masters of Public Policy and Global Affairs programs at UBC (including development of a *Strategic Design for Complex Challenges* micro credential); steward of the Canadian Architects Declare initiative; founding Chair of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Committee on Regenerative Environments (CORE), co-founder and chair of the Vancouver Design Foundation and its city-wide design festival. Alongside running my practice, I'm currently also pursuing a PhD on 'Rematriating Asset Management' - learning and unlearning at the intersection of Indigenous stewardship, planetary health, regenerative economics and place-based civic innovation. Excited to connect with and learn from you all! warmly,
jennifer

Thu, 02/18/2021 - 18:05

So excited to see so many familiar and many new faces here!

I'm the Director of Integration at HKS and am in the process of purchasing a home in Dallas, TX.  My family lives here now, but my bother and I were born and raise in charming Valdosta, GA to immigrant parents.  We all followed him to the Lone Star State (I was the last) after he started his family.  After living in Atlanta, Paris, the Japanese countryside, and most recently NYC, I have the good fortunte to experience firsthand different cultural reactions to rural, suburban and urban life.

My role at HKS is to make sure people are talking, learning from each other, and collaborating in a way where 1+1=5.  I'm the former AIA Committee on the Environment Chair (COTE), an ILFI Ambassador, and ULI Sustainable Development Council member.

At HKS, and previously with SOM, I've worked on complex projects at all scales and have crossed the disciplines of urban design, architecture, and interior design.  Educated as an architect, I think our systems-thinking, analytical, and design visioning skills help us advise policy makers, owners, elected officials, and the general public on what each of us can do to enhance our social sustainability and the performance of our built environment. https://www.hksinc.com/people/julie-hiromoto/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhiromoto/ https://twitter.com/Julie_Hiromoto

Thu, 04/22/2021 - 00:31

Hi everyone! I'm Elaine Minjy Limmer, a senior planner at Sasaki. I work across a variety of project types, including large-scale land use planning, flood resilience master plans, and parks master plans. Throughout all my projects I am thinking through how to define resilience in a way that is community centered - there's no easy answer! Looking forward to being in conversation with everyone here. Elaine

Tue, 05/04/2021 - 18:42

Welcome Elaine. I look forward to collaborating. warmly, J jennifer cutbill, architect AIBC FRAIC LEED GA | she / her / they principal |* lateral agency* c 604.368.1980 www.lateralagency.ca | Instagram #Architects*Declare* | #Architects *Divest* | #Architects*ACT* *#Stand*withGreta | * #Stand*withIndigenousLandDefenders | * #Redesign*the *Future* *The lands on which I live and practice are the unceded (i.e. stolen) Indigenous territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh * *Úxwumixw* *(Squamish) and **səlilwətaɬ** (Tsleil Waututh) Nations. With an open heart I seek to listen, to learn, and to do good work so we can, together, restore right relations and r**egenerate our capabilities to be ever better guardians and stewards of this place, now and through future generations. * On Fri, Apr 23,

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