THE BIGGER PICTURE: Life in 2030

Posted on | March 29, 2010 | No Comments

What is the bigger picture for my life?  Where will I be in twenty years from now? At age 23 asking myself where I’ll be at 43 is kind of a difficult, but yet very important question.   While I have no idea where or what I’ll be in twenty years this blog will focus on what I hope to accomplish.  I see myself taking one of two avenues, both of which I’ll explain in depth.  However, each is similar because of my consistency of advocating for transit oriented developments and the neighborhoods that help support them.

Scenario 1:  INDIANAPOLIS BOUND

In this scenario, I will have completed my Masters of Urban Design Degree and decided to stay in Indiana for a number of reasons, the most important being job availability that gives me the capability to advocate for the current Indy Connect Transportation Plan that is in the news now.  In twenty years, I hope to have worked alongside of this plan in the private sector for a firm who does the design, planning, and routing for the transit systems.  I will have been a key player in this plan at all steps from initial review (the stage we are in right now in 2010) all the way through to the end where it is implemented.  In my fantasy world in twenty years this system will have been implemented and is up and running.   I use it daily to get to work since I live in a neighborhood where one of the transit stations is located and has been redeveloped due to its location.  The firm I work for actually redeveloped the neighborhood I reside in around transit. My family uses the transit system daily.  My children use it to arrive at school and my husband and I both take it to work.  In twenty years, the transit lines in Indianapolis will have helped transform the nature of our world to be less automobile dependent, one of the reasons I am thankful that I decided to stay in Indianapolis and fight for a better quality of life and implementing this transit system has helped!  Being a part of such an endeavor will be one of the most rewarding experiences I’ll ever have in my lifetime.

While work and family life keeps me busy, I try to give back to the community the best that I can.  Through work, I have helped put together an assistance team that uses parts of vacation time to attend to blighted areas and help those less fortunate reclaim their urban areas and have shelter and places to live.  The team is comprised of all types of professionals from the building and design industry.  It’s a great way to give back.  (It is similar to the assistance teams that helped during Katrina and the Haiti Earthquake relief teams that are current to 2010.)

Scenario 2: WEST COST BOUND

This scenario takes me out of Indiana after the completion of my Masters of Urban Design degree to the west coast, mostly likely in Phoenix or Tempe Arizona.  My main advocacy in Arizona would still be similar to that of Indianapolis which is to fight for better connected transportation systems.  In 2008 (just a few years before I moved out there to start my career as an urban designer) Arizona had opened a light rail system.  In twenty years this system will be much more fully developed- at the help of the firm I work for in the urban design and planning department.

My knowledge will be primarily on the benefits of transit oriented developments, but due to the climate in Arizona I will also become knowledgeable on water conservation strategies and sustainability.  I will still advocate (just as in Indianapolis) for the location of transit stations to be strategically placed in neighborhoods in hopes to help revitalize the area.  I think that living where I’ve helped transform an area is the best way to make sure the development is functioning as it should; therefore, I live in one of my own firm’s neighborhood revitalization projects.  As I’ve said before, transit is much more developed and thus is how I get to work, the store, and entertainment choices.

As in the Indianapolis, I also keep very busy with my job.  On the side; however, I have taken some time to write a book on the benefits of transit oriented development and the philosophy behind urban design.  It’s not a best seller, but it helps me to know that I have gotten my thoughts out on paper and could someday be useful.

Also similar to the Indianapolis life, I have helped put together an assistance team that uses work vacation time to attend to blighted areas and help those less fortunate reclaim their urban areas and have shelter and places to live.

THE FUTURE OF BOTH WORLDS:

There are several areas from both stories that are common to each other.  In each, there is an underlying need to give back to those who have helped me and those who need help.  Due to this, in either scenario, I help at the local college teaching and critiquing when needed (either Ball State in the Indianapolis life and Arizona State in the Arizona life).   I am also a mentor for local students.  This has a profound impact on me because not only do I get to help local students, but I get to learn from them as well.  It brings back great memories from my graduate work in urban design when I had a mentor that helped with projects throughout the course of the program.  If there’s nothing else I’ve learned in the past twenty years it is that learning is never ending.

The person I am in twenty years I hope is someone who has achieved a lot in the profession of Urban Design and is a knowledgeable person on T.O.D’s as well as how to give a neighborhood identity through transit.  That’s my passion at age 23; I hope it still is as strong at age 43.

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