Volunteer Spotlight: George Hill

NDC Volunteers range from young interns to seasoned professionals - and this month we are happy to feature long-time member George Hill, who is helping to mentor younger volunteers on a neighborhood planning project.

George Hill became an NDC volunteer after moving to Baltimore in 1989, viewing this as an opportunity to explore urban design with a community-centered focus.  He was also interested in Baltimore’s national reputation for urban design and urban planning, illustrated through the Inner Harbor and planned community developments like Coldspring New Town and Cross Keys Village, as well as the strong identity expressed by neighborhoods and efforts toward community preservation. George notes “the City had a compelling influence on African American culture and history which enhanced its position in my mind. Baltimore natives who have contributed to the vibrancy and resilience of American ethnic and national cultures are legion and legendary."

Having participated in over 10 projects, George Hill is a member of the NDC Hall of Fame.  He worked on a streetscape for Pennsylvania Avenue (an historically black merchant community), a number of open space and garden projects, a traffic calming plan for Catonsville, playgrounds, and neighborhood plans that illustrated defensible space and landscape concepts. “All of the projects I worked on were rewarding, yet two stand out as significant in helping me to better understand community dynamics which led to a more thorough appreciation of urban planning and urban dynamics of change and renewal. My first project was a playground design for the Better Waverly Community. This community has persevered with determination and grit over the years. The people were committed to sustaining the social infrastructure and led a proactive political life.  The Booth-Boyd Community plan opened my eyes to the long term effect of deferred political engagement and the impact of “benign neglect” – the seeming unending ethos of modern national urban policy."

George has served as a project manager for the Maryland Transportation Administration since 1999, involved in conceptual and design improvements to commuter rail, Central Light Rail, bus, and rapid transit facilities.  He is also an instructor for the graduate landscape architecture and undergraduate architecture programs at Morgan State University.  He previously worked as a landscape architect for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.  George has two Masters degrees:  in Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and of Urban and Environmental Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

He is currently working with a team of NDC volunteers on the Remington Neighborhood Plan.  Regarding the future, George notes, “there should be a more holistic approach to urban design and planning to bring near equilibrium to urban life” and calls for “a unified field theory of city planning, reaching across all the allied design disciplines, ultimately stemming the enduring urban malaise."