When communities are excluded from planning decisions, the consequences can last for decades. For Meghan Gough, Ph.D., an associate professor of urban and regional studies and planning at VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, research is a tool for ensuring that land use, recovery and development decisions are shaped by the people most affected by them.

That conviction was sharpened early in her career during post–Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where Gough worked alongside residents and local leaders to help rebuild communities devastated by the storm. The experience would fundamentally shape how she approaches planning, research and teaching.

Centering community input

As a doctoral student at The Ohio State University, Gough participated in a federally funded initiative that provided technical assistance to Gulf Coast communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Working with local government officials and residents, she helped develop a comprehensive master plan intended to guide land use decisions for the next 20 years. The process emphasized collaboration, relationship-building and sustained community engagement.

“I was a doctoral student,” Gough said. “I knew a lot about planning, but I didn’t know anything about Mississippi or the cultures of the Gulf Coast. It became quickly apparent that I was an outsider, and in order to work with residents and leaders in the region, I needed to learn about the people, the place and its history.”

Community meetings and visual preference surveys allowed residents to communicate their priorities and concerns, helping planners balance development pressures with the desire to preserve rural character. For Gough, the work underscored the importance of listening carefully and recognizing local knowledge as essential to effective planning.

“I think this was the first time I realized that one of the best ways to learn is to listen, be quiet and understand that there’s so much to learn from people living in the affected area who know best what they need,” she said. “That experience continues to shape how I approach planning and how I teach students to facilitate discussions with community members to co-create ideas that guide future land use decisions.”

Gough’s path to planning began years earlier, sparked by hands-on environmental learning. As a high school student, she studied at an environmental field station, an experience that inspired her to pursue biology and environmental science.

After earning a degree in biology and environmental science from James Madison University, Gough worked as an environmental consultant contracting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, examining contaminated Superfund sites. The work introduced her to environmental planning and land remediation, but she soon realized she wanted to deepen her understanding of how policy shapes environmental outcomes.

“I wanted to understand our environment at a deep level and use that knowledge to impact public policy and public education,” Gough said.

While exploring graduate programs, she discovered urban and regional planning and recognized its alignment with her interests, particularly its focus on environmental justice, policy and spatial analysis. She enrolled in a master’s program at Virginia Tech, where discussions of growth management, land use policy and conflict resolution helped crystallize her interest in research over practice.

“You’re talking about growth management, but what do you say to the farmer who’s been farming on the fringe of development for generations,” Gough said. “When development reaches their property line and there’s demand for housing, how are those decisions made and whose voices inform them?”

Those questions led her to pursue doctoral study and, ultimately, a career centered on research and teaching.

From research to action

When Gough joined VCU’s Wilder School as a faculty member, she saw an opportunity to apply her research philosophy in an urban context with deep historical and contemporary planning challenges.

“I only applied to universities that valued community engagement in their teaching, research and service,” she said. “I came to the Wilder School because there was a commitment to community engagement and social equity.”

Her work in Richmond reflects that commitment. As a leader in the Richmond Cemetery Collaboratory, Gough partners with community organizations including the Descendants Council of Greater Richmond Virginia, Friends of East End and the Woodland Restoration Foundation to research, preserve and elevate historically Black cemeteries. Through her Sustainable Community Development course, students have created story maps documenting Barton Heights and Woodland Cemetery, blending research with public-facing storytelling.

Gough also led a cohort of 22 scholars from across the country in examining sites such as Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground through a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, connecting academic inquiry with lived history.

Beyond historic preservation, Gough collaborates with community organizers and researchers through Happily Natural Day to document networks of Black farmers across central Virginia. Their work informs planning conversations around land use, food systems and equity, while challenging traditional funding and development frameworks. In partnership with VCU’s Middle of Broad experimental design lab, the project explored visual representations of community-driven ideas that will inform a future exhibition.

Gough also serves on the advisory board for Richmond’s Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan, an addendum to the city’s master plan that would expand preservation beyond buildings to include neighborhoods lost to urban renewal, cemeteries and oral histories.

Across her work, Gough emphasizes the role of planners as facilitators rather than decision-makers.

“I urge students to consider their role as a facilitator,” she said. “You are working with residents, elected officials, decision-makers, architects and engineers. Your research facilitates discussions in the planning process that ultimately impact the quality of life in communities.”

Gough currently teaches Introduction to Planning and Capstone Proposal Writing in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program. Through both coursework and community partnerships, she encourages students to approach planning holistically, grounded in research, collaboration and respect for community knowledge.

“I hope to model responsible ways that a public, urban-serving university can be a partner in these larger community initiatives,” Gough said.