Renaissance hosted Meredith Beavers in January as part of the University of Virginia Externship Program. Meredith is a Masters of Urban and Environmental Planning student with a concentration in Design and was selected to join Renaissance for a two-week-long externship experience over her winter break.
Meredith has experience working at a regional planning commission in Southwest Virginia while earning a Bachelor’s in Smart & Sustainable Cities, Bachelor's in Political Science, and minors in Leadership & Social Change and Visual Arts from Virginia Tech.
Renaissance Planning Group stood out to Meredith, and various lines on the website made her eager to work with the team and contribute to creating “Cities that Work.”
We are multidisciplinary city planners…
While at Virginia Tech, a mentor told Meredith, “Planners wear many hats,” meaning the planning field requires those within it to be flexible and approach projects from various angles. Meredith says, “Describing the role of an Urban Planner has always been a challenging task because planners are extremely dynamic, and their responsibilities vary greatly.”
Meredith says she found the multidisciplinary approach “very evident” at Renaissance “through the various individual backgrounds and how the team works together.” While externing, Meredith described team meetings as “collaborative environments” and notes, “it is clear each person is a unique asset to the integrated planning process.” The assortment of planning and consulting projects at Renaissance has been exciting for Meredith as it allows planners to experience a range of projects and provide fresh perspectives.
We view cities as dynamic, interconnected, living organisms…
During her work with Renaissance, Meredith conducted preliminary research for a project in Avon Park, Florida. “It showed me how passionate Renaissance is about understanding the area and the community members.” She noted this is a priority across all projects, “planners genuinely put in the work to understand each project area and its spiderweb of interconnectedness, exemplifying their understanding of dynamic cities.”
Meredith was inspired by engaging in the process and learning about Renaissance's organizational structure and the methodologies employed to create “cities that work.” Following her two-week externship, Meredith has stayed on the team as a Planning Intern and has been recently helping with a transportation project in South Miami-Dade, Florida. We look forward to our continued work with Meredith and hope to see her flourish as a professional after her graduation from UVA this spring.