Caroline hails originally from DC, but has lived and worked in NYC, LA, and Shanghai; since 2015, they have enthusiastically called Boston home. Caroline’s work is driven by an interest in the ways design and democracy intersect, with a focus on racial and environmental justice, and systems-level change. As an urban + civic designer, architect, planner, fabricator, and historian by training, Caroline brings over a decade of experience in private practice and academia to their work. Always in search of an “impossible” puzzle to solve, they seek out projects and problems that necessitate thinking across scales — from technical details through strategic policy and planning. As MONUM’s Director of Civic Design, Caroline’s portfolio focuses on cross-departmental initiatives involving the City’s Green New Deal agenda, climate resilience, and economic & urban development.

Prior to joining the City, Caroline led urban-research initiatives and taught courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Additionally, they were a Senior Urban Designer and Civic Strategist at Grayscale Collaborative, working on the Blue Hill Ave Transportation Action Plan, and the High Line Network’s The Community First Toolkit, an open-space equity-planning toolkit done in collaboration with the Urban Institute. During their architectural career, they worked with UNStudio, Micheal Maltzan Architects, and Ball Nogues Studio, focusing on computational design and the design of large-scale, complex geometries.

One of Caroline’s favorite hobbies is learning new things — whether through traditional academic research or through building and making. They are currently a doctoral candidate at Harvard University, writing (in their spare time) a dissertation on the history of Participatory Planning and its relationship to the Black Power movement and global urban rebellions in the 1960s. Additionally, they hold a Masters of Urban Design, and an AM in Urban Planning from Harvard University, and a BArch from Virginia Tech. Their research, writing, and teaching has been supported and recognized by the Graham Foundation, the Knight Foundation, Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the Urban Land Institute, the Canadian Center for Architecture, the Architectural League of NY, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and many more.