About Me

I'm an urban planner with a passion for using technology to make our cities more just, sustainable and fun. My approach is to deploy sophisticated computational tools like data science, web design and digital cartography in tandem with traditional planning tools like land use planning, urban design and community engagement.

I'm at my best when inventing new stuff and collaborating with diverse teammates on complex urban issues. I'm seeking a position where I can make the most of my deep experience and many skills. Thanks for stopping by!

- Scott Margeson

My Work ►

Cambridgeport Campus Plan

Our client, MIT, asked us to plan a future for their west campus that would also make the neighbors happy. We offered a bold, comprehensive vision including arts, innovation and open space, which won the Simha Prize for outstanding student planning. (large PDF) (Project Website)

Urban Green Roof Network

Green roofs can save energy, add beauty and provide public space. If networked, they could transform a city into a literal urban jungle. These radical, aspirational design guidelines would get developers to do exactly that to a slice of Manhattan.

Ma3Map Mobile App

This crowd-sourced mapping project was developed for a startup client in Nairobi. Our custom stack of technologies transforms their social media feed into a transit map, helping commuters and planners alike see the geographic dimension of traffic issues. (Live Map) (Github Repo)

Programmable Places

The urban public realm fulfills key political and social functions for the city. What happens when it gets overlaid by new layers of digital reality generated by mobile apps? My Master's thesis explores this fascinating question by using the momentous launch of Pokemon GO as a case study.

Bronx River Risk Map

Sewer overflow areas near rivers are at high risk of surface and groundwater chemical contamination. This memo explores outfall areas touching the Bronx River, Bronx, NY and uses GIS spatial analysis to recommend the best places for environmental education outreach.

Collective Design

The urban design of Findhorn Ecovillage reflects the community’s twin philosophies of collective identity and individual freedom. This presentation explores the design implications stemming from the interplay of the collective and individualistic approaches. (scale diagram) (Presentation, speaker notes embedded)

Big Data in Riyadh

This big data project shows the power of D3.js for creating beautiful interactive visualizations. Here, learn what people in Riyadh tweet about, exploring the data in both space and time. Python was instrumental for performing the data scraping and analysis.

Chicago Segregation Study

Racial segregation in Chicago has complex roots, but we suspected the spatially divisive nature of highways to be a contributing factor. This project uses spatial and statistical analysis, performed in ArcGIS, to explore the relationship. (large-format PDF)

Design Politics of the Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia is a triumph of architecture that has served multiple religions and outlasted several empires. Every change in control altered the building's political meaning, an evolution analyzed in this paper. (PDF)

Crowd-sourcing Bike Safety

This web map of fatal cyclist accidents in Boston is built for crowd-sourcing thanks to Ushahidi. It's robust because users can add more data points over time, creating a collaborative, visual database to serve cyclists and planners.

TrackMe App

App Inventor allows mobile app development through a visual block-based interface. This custom app taps into Google Fusion tables and the phone's mobile GPS to track locations and returns a live map to the user interface. (link not available)

Sanibel Reflections

The 1975 Sanibel Island Plan is a landmark example of designing with nature. It addressed explosive population growth in a fragile ecosystem through community input and expert ecological analysis. This unpublished paper evaluates the plan and checks in on Sanibel 40 years later. (PDF)

My Skills ►

Skills and Experience

Planning

Public Space, Open Space, Land Use, Digital Engagement, Community Outreach, Zoning Analysis

Design

Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, SketchUp, Rhino3D, Hand Diagramming, HTML, CSS

Data

ArcGIS, Web Maps, Access, Excel, Python/Pandas, JavaScript/D3, Rstudio, SQL

Projects

Reporting, Analysis, Research, Budgeting, Strategic Planning, Supervision

Contact Me ►