Jill mead
Senior Project Manager
Jill loves the number-crunching, analytical, investigative part of urban planning work just as much as she loves the creative problem-solving around communicating the findings to different audiences through thoughtful and interesting visualizations. She brings her expertise in planning, data analysis, and visualization to every PGAV project.
Jill is a graduate of UNC's dual master's program in City & Regional Planning and Public Health and is very interested in the reciprocal interaction between humans and their environment, how we shape our cities, and how they, in turn, shape how we live and travel. Ultimately, she’s more of an urban planner, but her public health coursework gave her insight into behavioral theory and a strong foundation in research design and methodology that informs her work in planning on a daily basis. In addition, Jill has an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Spanish Language & Literature from Washington University, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, and completed a Fulbright in Argentina.
Jill currently lives in Portland, Oregon, where she enjoys seeing how the city and community engage around planning issues and the multitude of ways they address creating vital public spaces, affordable housing, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, public transportation, environmental sustainability, and equity. She grew up in St. Louis and is obsessed with the beautiful historic built environment that the City has to offer. One of her major life goals was to own a building that was at least 100 years old — Mission Accomplished!
Favorite city to visit
Buenos Aires!
It’s beautiful, functional, and designed for people to meet their needs without a car. There’s a deep commitment to making art, culture, education, and health care available to everyone that is very inspiring to me.
recent project
Kirkwood, MO Attainable Housing Study
I really enjoyed using data to identify who is most affected by high housing costs, and understanding the human dimension of what is a somewhat abstract issue.
every city needs
To get the small things right! Our day is made up of micro-experiences that create our overall quality of life. In a city, every street crossing, block, and building contribute to the overall quality of the environment, and communicate so much about a city’s priorities.