Gwendolyn Hellen-Sands

Department: Land Use – Housing
Email: [email protected]

Biography:

Gwendolyn Hellen-Sands joined MAPC in 2024 as a Regional Housing Planner II. As part of the Housing team in Land Use she works to address issues of housing affordability and access at varying scales, ranging from the state level to the town level.

Before joining MAPC, Gwendolyn worked as an urban planner with EPR p.c. in Charlottesville Virginia, where she worked on comprehensive plans for both counties and localities in Virginia, and transit plans all over the state. Previously, Gwendolyn worked as an urban planner and project manager with Sasaki, where she led both comprehensive and campus planning projects, and conducted research on creating welcoming college campuses for minority groups.

Gwendolyn completed her Masters in Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia, where her research examined the relationship between gender and the built environment, and the creation of feminist spaces. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Wellesley College.

Areas of expertise: comprehensive planning, equitable planning, community engagement, urban design, project management, and graphic design.