What Brought Me Here: Meg Prier - Connect The Dots
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15 Sep What Brought Me Here: Meg Prier

Posted at 13:54h in Insights by
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At Connect the Dots, we thrive on bridging technical expertise with public voice, and Meg’s journey from engineering to urban planning to public work makes her a powerful force in making public engagement more accessible, meaningful, and impactful.

What work were you doing before you arrived at Connect the Dots?

My background is in Civil and Environmental Engineering. I wanted to do something that could have a tangible impact on the world and felt engineering was that route. Once I was in that field, I realized there were more questions that challenged me. Should this building exist? Should it be built here? Who gets to make those decisions?

Asking those questions took me on a path to completing an interdisciplinary Masters degree in Urban Planning and Sustainable Design, focusing on sanitation and water systems. My work and studies emphasized the importance of participatory design and public led infrastructure. This focus continued in my work afterwards. Even while I was managing technical projects, I kept being the person on the team advocating for meaningful public involvement. This eventually led me to transition from an interdisciplinary environmental consulting company to work directly for an environmental justice public based organization focused on air quality. In that space, I was able to bring my technical expertise to public initiated and led projects.

 

The back of a small building showing several water tanks and many pipes.

Meg led the design of a San Francisco model home project that included the first permitted rainwater to drinking water system in California and the first permitted composting toilet in the City. The project required creative engineering and effective stakeholder engagement with City and State officials.

 

Now at Connect the Dots, I’ve become part of a team that is holistically focused on the public’s involvement on projects. My role continues to be a bridge between technical disciplines and the public and to make it accessible for the public to participate in projects that shape their neighborhoods and cities.

What drew you to Connect the Dots?

I was interested to be on a team that has so many different backgrounds and experiences to do this type of public work together. Before, I was at times the main person on a team to advocate and negotiate on behalf of the public. Now I have a whole team that shares similar values and we get to do this work together.

What do you hope to grow in, expand more of the work that Connect the Dots does or that you do specifically now that you’re here?

I previously did engagement in ad hoc or organic ways. CtD has a more structured, wide-ranging, and rigorous approach to engagement that is informed by social science practices. I have appreciated learning this more formal and intentional approach to outreach and engagement that is informed by our team’s varied experiences in the field.

 

Meg sitting at a table with four public members and writing on a large diagram of public restroom locations as residents share their perspectives.

Meg led the public engagement for a citywide public sanitation project in Berkeley, California.

 

I also have found a particular role that I can play as an engineer in softening the restrictions around how we collaborate with engineering firms and how the public can participate in technical projects. My engineering background is very unique in its creativity and interdisciplinary nature. I both understand how engineers think and have the positionality to encourage more creativity and flexibility, especially to respond to community needs and priorities.

And personally, I am happy to have made my way back to the Philadelphia region. I grew up in the Philly suburbs and I was looking for a way to get to know the Philly landscape and environment better. There are so many projects with big institutions and players in the city, it’s great to be reconnected through this role!

 

 

Meg is a Senior Project Manager with 10+ years of experience in environmental engineering and urban planning, who specializes in leading community and stakeholder engagement for large, complex infrastructure projects.