Ray Curran

Ray has an academic background in architecture, planning and urban design and has worked in these areas for over 25 years both in the United States and abroad. Currently he is Senior Urban Planner at the non-profit environmental conservation organization Scenic Hudson, Inc headquartered in Poughkeepsie, NY. As public advocates the role of Scenic Hudson is to insure that the natural resources of the Hudson River and valley are preserved even as pressure for development has dramatically mounted in recent decades. As Senior Urban Planner Ray assists communities in creating socially and environmentally appropriate alternative visions for the   development of their waterfronts. Prior to coming to Scenic Hudson Ray was planning director for the Village of Ossining in Westchester County, NY. Before that he was in charge of waterfront planning for the New York City Planning Department’s Bronx Office. Earlier professional experience was in England and France where he was focused on town center and waterfront planning.

He has taught in various colleges both in the United States and abroad and is author of an early new urbanism book called Architecture and the Urban Experience , published by VanNostrand Reinhold in 1983. Colleges where he has taught include Pratt Institute in New York City, Oxford Polytechnic in England and the National Universities of Mexico and Colombia, SA. He is deputy chair of the Village of New Paltz Planning Board where he lives and is also on the Town of New Paltz’s Open Space Committee.