Emerging New Urbanism: An Interview with Gary Scott
Emerging New Urbanism: An Interview with Gary Scott
A young leader in the Congress for the New Urbanism shares his thoughts on the future of the movement.
Each Saturday this summer, a piece written by student fellows at Southern Urbanism will be published as a part of a nine-part series where architects, planners, and figures are interviewed at the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU 32) in downtown Cincinnati. While there, the fellows caught up with urbanists from all over the United States and beyond to chat about their work. Each interviewee was asked three questions about what they do and the goals that their work advances. The conversations have been edited for length and clarity.
Gary Scott, named in Mass Transit’s Magazine “40 Under 40,” is a Senior Project Manager for Pace Suburban Bus in Illinois, a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism Board of Directors, and a co-founder of Emerging New Urbanists (ENU). In this interview, Gary tells the story of the ENU organization and shares insights on the future of New Urbanism.
MS: Would you mind just introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about what you do with the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Emerging New Urbanists?
GS: My name is Gary Scott. I'm a board member of both the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Emerging New Urbanists. Under the Congress for the New Urbanism, I became involved by first working for the organization and interning there. I worked a lot with our membership in our chapters, so I gained interesting insights into CNU, the movement, [and] the people, and it really set me up to be in a unique position to help connect people within the organization and throughout the movement.
After I finished working at CNU, after going to the Congresses and helping out with programming there, I was asked to run for the Chapter representative role on the CNU Board of Directors. Essentially, the Chapter Representative role was representing the chapters and being the voice on the National CNU Board. I led calls every month. I helped people start new chapters. I gave support and best practices. Think Lucy's psychiatrist booth-type stuff. I mainly just learned about what was going on at our chapters, which were local, state, regional, everywhere.
Also in this position, I was empowered by our then-president, Rick Cole, who said, “We should start organizations; we should start ways for people to get involved with CNU that maybe have not been able to have as large of a voice.” So, one of the things I set out to do when he came on board, which is in the summer of 2021, was to start a task force: the Emerging Leader Task Force. I talked with a number of colleagues and friends within the organization and movement, and we created that task force. And then through calls, through organizing, we then held a Place Summit: three were in person and also a large virtual component. We all got together. We all talked about the role of place in our lives and discussed why that was important to us and what role we had as younger people to be involved. So through that, we then appointed the president and executive director and different roles that helped create a way in which a younger person within CNU, or who had learned about CNU but might have had a hard time getting involved with CNU, to find a group of people that they could relate to because they were younger or that they were new to the profession.
We, at the time, only had virtual programming. We put on a lot of sessions at the Congress our first year, happy hour, that kind of thing. And it just grew. So now we're more than 300 people. We have a not-for-profit status with the state of Illinois. We're working on our 501(c) paperwork. And now it's a thriving organization of people. Right now, it's all volunteer-based, but we're heading in the direction to get grants or some financial support, and all that.
MS: With your work with emerging urbanists, students, and young professionals, what would you say is the best way for young people to get involved with urbanism, whether that be professionally, through advocacy, or in their local community?
GS: Yeah, great question. I think that the best way for young people to get involved is first understanding what your role is. What do you enjoy most about new urbanism or walkability, livability? Keeping that true to yourself, and then reach out, and get involved in the Emerging New Urbanism. Sign up on the website. Meet, reach out, and check out the website. Sign up for our newsletter, and just be open to conversations with other people, other younger people. I think ENU was really created to be a voice for younger people. So come at it. Volunteer with ENU. Be a part of our mentorship program. Write an article for our newsletter. There are a number of ways you can get involved and know you're an advocate and you're a leader within the movement. You don't necessarily have to have been involved for ten, fifteen, twenty years.
MS: So obviously you have a group of older urbanists and then kind of this younger cohort. How do you see the process going of passing that baton, of helping the next generation take a leadership role and step into the moment?
GS: I think that the founders, the fellows, the folks that have been involved in the organization since the beginning, a radical organization, created post modernism to combat sprawl. I think they're ready to share their knowledge with people that are younger, and especially kids coming out of school or that have worked for a few years in the profession. They're ready to pass down to younger people. They're ready because those younger people were them when they created the movement. I think, too, it's important that not only are the older people in the movement passing the knowledge to the younger people, it's also the younger people that are giving new knowledge to the older people. And with diverse thinking and new ideas, we're more focused around climate change and affordability, attainability, and different aspects that affect our lives or younger people's lives differently than people who came before us. We have a whole different set of problems than what we did thirty, thirty-five years ago. We can look at things with a whole different perspective, with different communication tools, [and] with many different ways.
MS: A final question: if you could give one piece of advice to someone graduating from college and entering the profession, what would that be?
GS: I think being open to conversations. Be willing to reach out to people who you want to meet, whether that's in a professional way through an organization like the Emerging New Urbanists or CNU, APA, AIA, all of these different organizations, or just emailing someone or reaching out to them on LinkedIn. Or in a different way, asking for an informational interview, talking to them, gaining knowledge. And they get to know you more. And over time, you'll have a network of people that you can have in your network.
Michael Schwartz is a Public Policy student at Duke University. He is on the executive team of the Duke Initiative for Urban Studies and an Affordable Housing Intern for the Duke Office of Durham and Community Affairs.
 |
|