Scot Hein was the University of British Columbia’s Urban Designer until May 2018, and an Adjunct Professor of Urban Design in UBC’s Masters of Urban Design Program launched in 2014 as well as in the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP).
Prior to this work he was the Senior Urban Designer for the City of Vancouver and led the city’s high-profile Urban Design Studio for 10 years of his 20-year career. His work included the urban design and implementation of new plans for the city’s West End, Downtown East Side, Cambie Corridor and Mount Pleasant.
He was responsible for the urban design and development planning of recent large metro core initiatives including Woodward's, Southeast False Creek/Olympic Village, Mole Hill, Chinatown, the revitalization of Gastown/Victory Square/Hastings Corridor and related public realm projects such as the Granville Mall, Carrall Street Greenway, Pigeon Park, Downtown Historic Trail, CPR ROW and the Silk Road.
Prior to joining the COV, he was in private architectural practice in the US and Canada where he specialized in the design of research and development facilities, health care, resorts and transit related developments. He is a previously registered architect with the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and is a registered architect in the United States. He holds degrees in Environmental Design and Architecture with a minor in Economics.
He is an adjunct professor for Urban Design at the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) while serving on the school’s inaugural advisory board. He lectures frequently throughout North America and has advised the Beijing and Shanghai Institute of Architects on emerging sustainable urbanism best practices while representing the City of Vancouver at the 2010 World Exposition focusing on better cities. He has also presented to the United Nations Livable Community Awards (SEFC was named the most Livable Community in the world in competition with 26 other countries) and co-chaired the inaugural urban design panel for Abu Dhabi.
He has contributed to many urban design charettes, including new designs for major cities and settlements throughout the UAE. He is a contributing urban design resource to the Mayor's Institute on City Design and the Sustainable Cities Design Academy based in Washington, D.C., both programmes of the American Architecture Foundation.
He is a founding board member of the Urbanarium, a non-profit society that advocates for “smart cities”. He has established environmental awareness/built environment education programmes for young people in Canada and the United States for 35 years and has served as Canada's international representative for this work. He has been a tireless advocate for neighbourhoods towards specific strategies for sustainable urbanism.
Scot was honored with the 2015 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Advocacy Award. He has lived in Vancouver for 40 years with his wife Julia, also an architect. He has published his first book titled Zoning Must Evolve/You Forgot About Me.
