Green Cities: City of Hermiston Visioning, Planning, and Design

How can cities become more sustainable, resilient, and regenerative? This question is the foundation for studies in the “Green Cities” course that examines the history and future of the interface between urban growth and environmental concerns, and the technological, social, and political forces that continue to shape it. (Green Cities syllabus) The course is within the University of Oregon School of Planning, Public Policy and Management curriculum. For the Fall 2021 course, students collaborated with the Sustainable City Year Program to conduct activities related to visioning, planning and development for the City of Hermiston. These activities included focused groups, design charrettes, research papers, icon/font design, public art compilation, and informational videos. The theme for this quarter was “experiential planning,” environmental design corresponding to experience/knowledge-based socio-economics.