Since forming LSC Planning & Development in 2023, Lauren has developed a wide-ranging portfolio of work, some of which has included:
• Project management of a ground-up lodging facility and conference center within a college campus
• Development and planning guidance on several large development projects located within the City of Boston
• Extensions of Institutional Master Plans (IMP) in Boston
• Assistance in development-related decision-making to the highest levels of municipal leadership for several cities in Massachusetts
• Professional development training for a municipal planning agency
• Exploration in planning and development feasibility for the expansion of a non-profit’s headquarters and an affordable housing project
• Assistance in the lease-up of a vacant community space and an underperforming sports facility
Prior to forming LSC Planning & Development, Lauren spent 15 years with the Boston Planning & Development Agency (formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority). Lauren first joined the agency as a Planner, then progressed her way up through the roles of Senior Planner, Deputy Director for Downtown & Neighborhood Planning, and finally as its Director of Planning.
While with the BPDA, Lauren led a number of complex planning initiatives and projects, among which included the air rights planning and associated project review for both the Central Artery/Rose Kennedy Greenway parcels and the Massachusetts Turnpike parcels, the Christian Science Plaza Master Plan, and the Winthrop Square disposition process.
Representative built projects that resulted from this portfolio include the Government Center Garage Project (One Congress and Bulfinch Crossing), North Station developments such as the Hub on Causeway and The Alcott, the South Station Tower, and Winthrop Center. In Back Bay, this includes One Dalton and 30 Dalton Street, Raffles Boston, and Lyrik Back Bay.
As Planning Director, she managed a team that oversaw planning and zoning initiatives over more than a third of the City’s physical land mass, leading to 42M-SF of development and $22B in total investment from 2019 to 2022.
Lauren also led staff in the implementation of innovative planning and zoning processes, including Coastal Resilience Flood Overlay Zoning, Zero Net Carbon Zoning, and many neighborhood-scale transportation and mobility planning efforts.
Lauren values the importance of community engagement, and as such, helped to form the agency’s first Community Engagement Team. She also provided guidance and mentorship for staff to work collaboratively with community, business and institutional organizations on public planning processes associated with physical planning in Boston.
She holds a Master of Sciences from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts from Boston College. After completing graduate school, Lauren worked in Manhattan for two years with Helen Neuhaus & Associates, Inc., a well-regarded consulting firm that specialized in consensus-building between public agencies and concerned stakeholders across a range of City and State infrastructure and environmental projects.