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Camille Manning-Broome is fascinated by the elements that make neighborhoods thrive. It’s an interest that began at age 14, when she and her mother backpacked across Europe and visited pedestrian-friendly Old World cities steeped in art, culture and livability. The experience never left her psyche, such that for years she planned to move across the pond after college.

Then something more powerful tugged at her. “I fell in love with that lifestyle, but I felt like I should try to impact change in Louisiana,” she says. So instead of running a museum in Paris, Manning-Broome earned a master’s degree in environmental science with a concentration in disaster relief.

It proved a serendipitous choice while job hunting post-Hurricane Katrina. Manning-Broome landed a position with FEMA, with whom she coordinated planning for 26 parishes. The experience helped her gain the attention of The Shaw Group, which later hired her to help start a new planning division. Then, Manning-Broome signed on to become the director of planning at the Center for Planning Excellence, the award-winning nonprofit charged with bringing smart-growth principles to communities throughout Louisiana.

At CPEX, Manning-Broome has become a respected leader in the fight to help the state’s towns and cities become more sustainable. “It is amazing work,” she says. “I get to combine the hard science and the technical aspects of planning with my love for culture.” Her work at CPEX has earned Manning-Broome accolades from the Louisiana Municipal Association and from several elected officials, including U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, a New Orleans Democrat who invited her to participate in a trip to The Netherlands to examine water management and land use.

In her personal life, Manning-Broome walks the walk. Two years ago, she, her husband, Devin, and their business partner purchased a drug-invested apartment complex in Mid-City and began cleaning it up. As soon as the first unit was finished, the couple moved in, transitioning from a newly refurbished 3,000-square-foot house in Shenandoah to a 600-square-foot apartment on a high-crime block. They faced down thieves and dealers, eventually winning trust among neighbors and inspiring an adjacent apartment complex owner to also renovate.

Now, when Manning-Broome talks to communities about streetscapes and affordable housing, she can testify firsthand. “Implementation is very hard,” she says, “but persistence gets it done.”

Age: 31

What is your best business advice? “Don’t let anyone compromise your principles; and treat everyone, no matter the pay grade, with the same amount of respect.”

Click here for the complete list of 2009's Forty Under 40 winners.