2020 Geodesign Forum

Lecture description:

Cities and suburbs alike face many challenges: providing sufficient housing across all income levels, changing retail landscapes, shifts in mobility, and now the uncertainty of a COVID-19 response and potentially long-term aftermath.  Scenario planning tools provide a way to “game out” potential futures to help understand how policy may influence our future communities.  Immersive, high-fidelity visualizations communicate planning designs to elected officials and the public bringing more informed and thoughtful decision making.  The concepts within geodesign provide a framework for evidence-based design and planning allowing us to test outcomes of policy decisions in the digital world so we do not make mistakes in the real world.

Lecture bio:

Brian is a Principal with Houseal Lavigne and brings over 20 years of experience in GIS and a passion for designing innovative geospatial solutions. His work is driven by the exploration of leading-edge solutions to shape the future of how people and communities interact with their built environments and discover the under-recognized patterns in the world around us.

Brian received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Geography from California State University, Long Beach and a Project Management Certificate from the California Institute of Technology. His professional career includes GIS work in both the public and private sectors including nine years at Esri, the world’s leading GIS software provider, where he substantially advanced 3D GIS capabilities. Most significantly, Brian was a lead contributor to pioneering work to use 3D GIS for urban planning policy, which led to the release of Esri’s web-based 3D urban planning product ArcGIS Urban. Additionally, Brian led a team of developers prototyping future capabilities of ArcGIS Urban, working closely with cities around the world on the design and adoption of the product.

Prior to joining Esri, Brian was the GIS Division Manager for the City of Pasadena, California, where he was instrumental in implementing the City’s enterprise GIS for multiple departments, including: Planning and Development, Water and Power, Public Works, Police, and Fire. While with the City, Brian expanded the GIS team to three full-time GIS staff and greatly improved how the City uses geospatial thinking to build a better community.