Emma McElroy - MS Urban Design and Policy Application

PORTFOLIO

EMMA C. MCELROY A young professional with 2 years of experience in creative digital design and content creation, a research background in environmental policy, and a devotion to creating more equitable cities

Education Bachelor of Arts: Environmental Policy and French Studies Scripps College, Claremont, CA • •

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GPA: 3.5/4.0 Cumulative Relevant Coursework: Architecture and Urbanism in Provence, California Water Policy, Environmental Policymaking, Natural Resource Management, Visual Ecology Awards: Dean’s List Spring 2018, Stauffer Francoeur ’38 Memorial Scholarship, Orr Duffy ’75 Memorial Scholarship, Scripps College Internship Grant Thesis: Stagnant Nuclear Energy Policy in France, An Issue of Environmental Justice

Complementary Educational Experiences AUCP French Language and Cultural Studies, Aix-en-Provence, France SIT Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management, Ft. Dauphin, Madagascar

Experience Skills

02/20 – Present

Online Store Specialist The Level Group, Milan, Italy Publish new content on deadline through development and execution of e-commerce proposition, focusing on design elements, merchandising, and brand positioning.

Problem-solve across departments to resolve 5 bugs and develop 15 improvements per month.

Generate more than €2.2 million in Q2 net sales for Clarks.eu with 27% increase from 2019.

Content creation Digital communications Marketing and sales Highly organized Process oriented Project management Teamwork

06/19 – 02/20

E-commerce Manager uDroppy Ltd, Milan, Italy Consulted with over 800 clients to drive traffic towards uDroppy, provided tutorials on functions of the technology and conversion boosting tips.

Expanded uDroppy user base through collaborative content creation, i.e. webinars, both in English and French.

Increased team productivity by offering platform support and training, including troubleshooting issues and optimizing usage, for junior team members.

05/16 – 07/16

On-site Coordinator University California, Davis, Ireland, France, Spain Led conversations around safety abroad and accessibility with both students and faculty to promote UCD’s goals of global education for all.

Ensured the course’s smooth running between Ireland, France, and Spain with advanced planning, timetable arrangement, and knowledge of local resources and language 07/18 – 07/19

Policy & Communications Intern FCHEA, Washington D.C., USA Prepared an advocacy piece endorsing diverse applications of fuel cells with a specific focus on wastewater treatment plants in order to expand on topics covered by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association.

Packed a FCHEA sponsored Capitol Hill forum with 100+ key stakeholders through postering and calling campaigns.

Created informative and engaging posts around hydrogen energy for FCHEA's Twitter and Facebook, featuring client achievements, to boost traffic.

Languages English, native fluency French, oral/written fluency Italian, basic proficiency

Software Front end CSS & HTML Esri’s Arc GIS Google Analytics Microsoft Office Suite Salesforce Analytics SketchUp

Interests Rhythm tap dance Ornothology, from rivers in Thailand to savannahs of Botswana Hiking i.e. Camino de Santiago Avid reader, as of late “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Aditchie

ON CITIES Los Angeles. City of angels. Home to Hollywood stars, incredible coast lines essential to California’s conservation efforts, and a tent city stretching 50 blocks, otherwise known as Skid Row. For most who come to visit, with no premonitions, L.A. can seem disappointing. Spend all your time on the freeway, stuck in traffic, to arrive at a vegan restaurant that charges $20 for a fruit bowl? But to native Angeles and hardcore transplants, this city’s underbelly is raw and tender, teeming with creative solutions to societal ills.

I spent 4 years in L.A. County, jumping on the commuter train when I had a free Saturday to head into the city. I learned from these excursions what urban disparity, inaccessibility, and environmental injustice looked like.

And simultaneously, Los Angeles showed me what it means for an urban landscape to offer opportunity, to grow and evolve with society’s needs, to protect, to engage, to show resilience.

My undergraduate studies in environmental policy focused on processes, on the living, moving elements that factor into legislative decisions.

ON THE DESIGN PROCESS

While I had many opportunities to learn and see these theorem, in my current role, I now can turn to the praxis. With The Level Group, my day is a constant balancing act, from tracking relevant benchmarks, consulting and convening with company partners, delegating tasks in a team, and delivering results under strict deadlines.

In order to publish relevant content and engaging online experiences, it is entirely essential to rely on the design process. I define this starting with setting clear intentions– what is the narrative? Who is invested and how will they be impacted?

I have been fortunate to work on a range of projects in my current role, from acting as the lead in our relationship with external agencies, collaborating across departments, managing all operational fixes and improvements, and taking charge of all onsite content.

But perhaps the greatest challenge has learning to be a part of completely dependent, integrated team, representing 4 different nationalities, varying levels in English and Italian, with each individual offering a unique perspective and mode of working.

ON GREEN SPACE

Undoubtedly, weekends spent with my father trapsing in the mucky fields of the California valley instilled in me a deep obligation to protect nature and a profound awe for birds, which has endured all throughout my life.

I have noticed that most people just don’t notice all the birds around them. When I stop, suddenly, to crane my neck and make an ID, I usually get puzzled looks. But every once and while, I meet an individual who stops too, curious to see what I see, curious to behold the beauty of the avian species. And for some, just this brief “natural” encounter is all it takes to change everything.

There is no doubt, I led a privileged childhood to have the resources, leisure time, and access to nature. Birdwatching is a predominantly white and male pastime for this very reason.

And equally true, many people, especially in urban contexts, do not ever get this kind of opportunity. Consistently, environmental, social, and psycho-therapy all prove the many benefits of green spaces and biodiversity for cities and their inhabitants.

ON THE URBAN RURAL DIVIDE

ON MAPPING

I began mapping in a general education course on practical science for students pursuing environmental studies. Spatial analysis was a new concept then and I did not yet understand the significant importance of it.

While cartography, from its debut, was born out of the colonial project, a Western conception of space and land, 21st century spatial analysis offers a much more interesting path to exploring, analyzing and understanding social, economic, and racial geographies. It is clear to me now that GIS is a foundational pillar in the field of urban design. For this reason, I spent the early months of lockdown building knowledge around GIS’ history and functionality and practicing application with Esri’s ArcGIS.

Shown here is one example of my work with GIS. While this map shows soil drainage in the Navarro River Watershed, the same technology could be applied to look at urban food deserts, city dwellers’ level of risk following a natural disaster, or rates of lung cancer by ethnicity and income. GIS is an incredible tool that permits city planners to identify issues and model solutions.

I very much intend to continue using spatial analysis in my own career.

ON GREEN PROJECTS Sustainability is not simply about planting trees, avoiding plastic bags, or choosing your bike once a week. Though these smalls gestures do count, they alone won’t moderate erratic temperatures on Earth, stop sea levels from rising, or reduce the risk of natural disasters.

It is our buy-in to planned obsolesce, our apathetic participation in an unhealthy cycle of consumption and waste, and our disconnect from one another, as well as our built and natural environments that have brought us to such a dangerous precipice. So how do we disrupt these patterns? How can one actively participate in the urban environment to encourage healthier, more participatory behaviors and fulfilling relationships?

Fifteen years old, and new to the school, I joined my high school’s environmental club. These individuals and I orbited around each other, in friend groups that never would have otherwise intersected, until each one of us decided to spend our Friday lunches pulling weeds, sewing seeds, and sorting recyclables.

The president of the club at the time brought an interesting project to us. She had seen an example of a bench built entirely from plastics waste and repurposed earthen materials. Over the course of my time in the club, we spent countless hours stuffing film trash into plastic bottles. What started as a once-a-month activity become a communitywide engagement. Once I became president of the club after 2 years of work, I decided we would finally build a bench.

The bottle brick bench pictured here marked the culmination of all our efforts. We worked with the student body external to our club, with teachers and advisors, with public administrators and local officials, and finally, with our hands, side by side, to build it. We were teenagers, but with a spirit of collectivity, with passion and motivation to protect the environment, and the purpose of creating a space for our fellow students to gather, we accomplished something quite monumental. To me, urban design is an opportunity to do just this: improve our daily existence, to fight injustice and increase accessibility, and to promote sustainability.

Milan has become my home over the last 2 years. Ironically, I moved to the E.U. to live in Marseille after many years of studying French. My story with Milan could not be described as love at first sight, but street by street, coffee shop by coffee shop, we have built a long-lasting relationship.

My go-to loop starts along Viale Jenner, passing by the Caserma Generale Alfredo Malgeri along the old San Rocco depot, as I curve along Cimetero towards Chinatown. Sometimes I continue onto Parco Sempione, but if I am looking for a quieter place, with an organic feel, I duck into Giardino Lea Garofalo.

One of my first visits to Milan, an Italian friend hosted me. He took me to Duomo, Navigli, Brera, the classic Milano hotspots. But one night heading back to his flat on foot, we saw the garden illuminated with fairy lights, art strewn everywhere– hungs in the trees, posted amongst the butterfly bushes, on tables, nestled into the potters. We had stumbled upon a community art showing. No dress code, no fee, no exclusivity. Here was a place, so “amidst the city”, with completely different rules. When I began my considering a master’s programs in urban design, I knew what my first project would be.

To create a just city, we, urban designers, must restore value to places of gathering that do not uphold exclusion. We must revitalize libraries, parks, and community centers. With this motivation, I set out to create an alternative plan for Porta Volta. Though the design mirrors the aesthetic of the neighboring community garden, this space can be retrofitted to serve different community needs.

The space has unique zones, with an airy, elevated greenhouse at its center. The greenhouse, while serving its intended purpose, would also be a place to work, to connect, free of charge. Naturally warmed during winter, and easily aerated in the summer, the greenhouse would be entirely “powered” through solar energy.

Notably, the garden would be ecologically conscious-- all plants within its boundary native to the Mediterranean region.

The areas in which the land is naturally depraved will be filled with deep rooted plants, creating a rain garden in the southwest corner. In the southeast corner is an outdoor classroom, for students and engaged community members alike, to learn about the water recharge, native flora, and green energy applications in urban settings.

On the other side of the greenhouse, one can find small garden plots, assigned to community members. The northern areas with its tree density would offer serene spots for those wandering through, to stop, relax, and take it all in.

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM

RAIN GARDEN