Imagine helping redesign entire neighborhoods so they're cooler, greener, safer, and healthier for everyone who lives there. What if your ideas could turn hot city streets into thriving spaces filled with trees, pollinator gardens, bike paths, and cleaner waterways?
In this presentation, Chauncie Bigler shares how a high school environmental science teacher and the creation of her school's Green Team sparked a passion that eventually led her to a career in city planning. Today, she works with residents, engineers, landscape architects, and scientists to create green infrastructure projects across Denver. From rain gardens and tree-lined streets to improving water quality and reducing extreme heat, Chauncie explains how planners bring communities together to turn ideas into reality.
You'll also get a behind-the-scenes look at the tools planners use every day, including GIS mapping, public workshops, and community engagement. If you enjoy environmental science, design, communication, maps, or solving real-world problems, this presentation shows how city planners help shape the future of the places where people live, work, and play.