The shape that we give to our city, in turn shapes us. In this TEDx talk, "Improving Public Health Through Community Design,
Citizen Engagement, and the Built Environment," Gary Gaston, CEO of the Nashville Civic Design Center, discusses epiphany, public health, the built environment, and how youth-centric civic engagement and community-based design practices are making an impact in Nashville, TN. Gary Gaston is the executive director of the nonprofit Nashville Civic Design Center, which works to envision the future of Nashville’s built environment and promote public participation in the design process. Gaston also serves as a lecturer at UTK College of Architecture + Design. He has a M.Ed. in Community Development and Action from Vanderbilt University.
Gary has led numerous planning and design efforts for the organization, including NCDC’s visionary The Plan of Nashville and the National Endowment for the Arts funded documentary film Design Your Neighborhood. He was the project director and co-author of Shaping the Healthy Community: The Nashville Plan, published by Vanderbilt University Press in April 2016.
Gary received the Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society Silver Medal “for extraordinary efforts to advance the field of design in the region” and recognized as a “Next American Vanguard” by Next City Magazine. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx