苏珊木

苏珊·伍德认为，一块石头就是一段历史. 仔细观察砂岩的横截面, and you can imagine the river that flowed to leave the material in that formation. Geology provides a look back through time, helping explain why the physical world appears as it does. 我们越了解我们的历史, 伍德认为,, the better we can foresee how events of the past might influence the future.

当伍德走在16街购物中心时，她想起了过去, 的有, 80-foot-wide spine supporting downtown Denver that was a lively source of pedestrian and business activity when it opened in 1982, 取代这条街道曾经拥挤的车辆通道. 现在, 她忍不住注意到那些薯片, 灰色和红色路面上的裂缝和变色, 都是I的一部分.M. Pei-designed rattlesnake pattern that is pronounced at the center and more diffuse at the edges. 成熟的树木正在落叶. 林荫大道正显露出它的年代.

A recognition that the area’s infrastructure has reached the end of its life span is driving a broad reconstruction of the 16th Street Mall, 第一阶段的工作正在进行中. 2024年底, 施工完成后, the layout of the street will be reconfigured to create wider sidewalks and enable center-running shuttle service by RTD’s Free MallRide, 全国最大的电动车队之一. 这个项目, 是与丹佛市和县合作进行的, addresses concerns with pedestrian and mall shuttle safety and calls for replacing the pavers, 每年的维护费用超过100万美元. Denver aims to strengthen the art and entertainment in the area and introduce new street furniture and lighting. 最终目标是:让当地人和游客都更喜欢购物中心, 更频繁地拜访，待得更久.

As a planning project manager for RTD – and the agency’s environmental lead on this marquee project – Wood has been involved in efforts to rehabilitate the Mall for almost a decade and remains involved as the project enters final design and construction. She understands that keeping the Mall in its current condition is no longer feasible. She also carries memories of the Mall she encountered upon moving to Colorado in 1993, which featured vibrant new restaurants and a Virgin Megastore where she and her husband, 乔, 新专辑取样.

“The Mall can be so much more, but we have to go through this period of rebuilding,” 伍德说. “我们将回到那个充满活力和活力的地方, 在理想的情况下, 比今天还多. 只是需要一点耐心.”

Planning requires taking the long view while tackling the challenges directly in front of you, 木头观察. “It’s true of many big problems that we’re not going to solve that in a day, 或者一周, 甚至一个月,”她说。. “我们需要时间来学习. 我们要做的就是努力工作.”

努力工作, 伍德补充道, 要求“审视我们所做工作的各个方面”, 我们怎么做, 影响是什么?, 好吗?, 很糟糕吗?, 对谁有影响?. 我们关注资源，然后是潜在的额外资源. 我们倾听社区的声音，了解人们的需求. And then we put all those things together and we start hammering out solutions.

这可能不是唯一的解决方案. 这是我们现在要做的，也是我们以后要做的.”

The desire to make a meaningful difference – a thought 伍德认为, every planner carries – compelled her to return to school at 41 to pursue a master’s degree in planning at CU Denver. 毕业后, 她在阿瓦达做土地使用工作, 莱克伍德, 格林伍德村, 道格拉斯县和杰斐逊县. She came to RTD 15 years ago to work on environmental planning for the Southeast Rail Extension and the Southwest Rail Extension, 都是FasTracks项目的一部分. 这是令人激动的, 伍德说, to be a part of “the biggest thing in the region” – projects that felt limitless in their possibilities.

不过，规划并不是伍德的最爱，地质才是. 朗维尤, 德州, native went off to Baylor University thinking she would major in drama – and fell in love with rocks, 被外, 研究她周围的一切. 石油和天然气在20世纪70年代末发展迅猛, 木头回忆, 她毕业前在科珀斯克里斯蒂找了份工作. She found herself out on a crew boat in Redfish Bay with a hard hat on, surrounded by drillers. 伍德说，这是“一种新奇而有趣的情况”.”

到80年代中期, oil had dropped to $5 a barrel – and Wood realized it would no longer be tenable to work in a field often tied to the price of a commodity. 环境咨询业有大量的工作机会, 于是她在达拉斯的德克萨斯大学上了水文地质学的课, got an environmental consulting job in Northern California and packed her Mazda RX-7, 当她开车去圣何塞时，她的猫搭在她的肩膀上.

伍德的整个生活在旧金山湾区改变了，她满怀喜悦地回忆道. 她重视她在那里发现的民族和种族多样性. 她喜欢在温和的气候中跑步. She met her husband, a fellow geologist, with whom she moved to Colorado three years later. Upon arriving in Colorado, she joined environmental engineering firm Roy F. 韦斯顿, enabling Wood to work on the closure of Stapleton International Airport and tour Denver International Airport before it opened. 她回想起走过终点站时的兴奋, 想象它挤满了乘客.

伍德的眼睛和心灵都受到她所承载的历史的影响. She remembers an urban geology class in college that had the group walking a creek, talking about flood plains and considering how geology could affect land use. 这种观点使她确信，规划是她发挥才能的地方.

“计划是关于人的，”她说. “这是我们所做的每件事对每个人的影响. I think we’re all finally starting to get it – but we’re also learning how.”

Wood is involved at the national level with the American Planning Association, 代表40人的专业组织,在90个国家有000名会员. She had long been interested in the concept of equity when an opportunity arose in 2016 to co-chair its first policy guide about planning for equity. 该项目于2019年完成，一年后世界发生了变化, with events that included the COVID-19 pandemic and the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor和Ahmaud Arbery.

“I think about what I knew then and what I know now – I knew nothing, and I thought I knew something. 在我们的世界里，公平一直是一个问题. “不幸的是，人们已经明白了，这是非常两极分化的. But I think that these very bad things that we saw really were the catalyst. 我们可以做些什么，但在我们看到它之前我们不能做. 我们无法视而不见.”

Wood says her fulfillment in life comes from the impact she can have on others. 她通过跑步、读书和写作来锻炼自己. She is working on a new policy guide for the APA on equitable economic development, 她认为，当人们成为焦点时，这项工作做得最好.

To work as a planner means she can make an incremental difference every day of her life, 伍德说. “To be part of something where you get to make a difference – that’s pretty good.”