Q&A with transportation planner, Alan Huynh

After taking classes with USC professor Michael Kodama, Alan Huynh joined Kodama’s urban planning consulting group after graduating in 2010. Huynh, who studied urban planning at USC, sat down with the Daily Trojan to talk about his experiences.

Daily Trojan: What made you interested in urban planning and transportation development?

Alan Huynh: I took a class with a professor named Michael Kodama. He’s a really cool guy. His class made urban planning make sense. I keep on following in his footsteps to see where it will lead me.

DT: Have you always been interested in the affairs of your surrounding community?

Huynh: Well, I am from Portland originally, so I grew up riding my bike a lot and ended up exploring the city and becoming interested in it that way.

DT: What do you think makes an ideal city?

Huynh: First, communication between administrations. Second, a lot of open public spaces so that people would want to interact with their city … Whether it be a cool sidewalk, like Union Street in the Bay Area. It’s so vibrant and public that people just go there to see what’s going on. The last thing you would want is a [lack of a] variety of people that live there. It’s good to have a diverse set of individuals so that people don’t get bored.

DT: What do you think makes an ideal urban planner?

Huynh: You have to be patient, and that is the most important thing. You also have to be able to communicate well … Social media right now is at the forefront, it’s about being underneath what’s being said and how you can use those tools. Also you have to understand how things connect together.

DT: How did your time at USC shape your motivations and allow you to give back to the community?

Huynh: I interned at so many public offices like Pasadena and the City of L.A. It gave me the experience to understand what they deal with on a daily basis. That knowledge helps me understand how a lot of things work. Now when I work with community groups, non-profits, I know more or less where to go. USC has let me better serve community groups and the community.

DT: What did you most enjoy about USC?

Huynh: You meet so many different people; we all have a certain competitive nature to ourselves and even a certain swagger. It was cool to be around people that were really different but at the same time really the same.

DT: What advice would you give to fellow Trojans who are interested in urban planning, or simply in the affairs of Los Angeles or other cities?

Huynh: It would be to get down and really understand things at the ground level. When you’re a student, you have the time to do so. Explore things, understand cohesively what all these different groups and agencies are trying to do. Having that ground-level experience once you start working and doing real planning, that’s the difference between the crew that rises to the top and everybody else. That ground experience is vital and how you will stand out.