Willacy County is a rural community (pop. 21,515) in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, thirty miles north of Mexico. In 2017, Hispanics and Latinos represented 88% of the population. The County has 16 colonias with some that lack adequate infrastructure for water and sewer. Due to its location along the Gulf of Mexico, […]
Academic Year Project Started: 2019-2020
Downtown revitalization and redevelopment plan for Durand
This report was created by a team of graduate students in the Urban and Regional Planning master’sdegree program at University of Wisconsin–Madisonon behalf of the City of Durand, Wisconsin. The project came to life througha partnership with the UniverCity Alliance program, where students, faculty,and professionalstaffin the University of Wisconsin system collaborated with local officials on […]
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Bellevue Regional Stormwater Structure
As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students created designs for flood impact mitigation measures in Bellevue, Iowa, including culvert improvements, drainage channels, and residentail flood walls. Recent updates to the flood maps of Bellevue, Iowa, have carried serious impacts for citizens within the community. The updates have added multiple […]
Bellevue Residential Land Development and Spec House Design
As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students created designs for development of a new residential neighborhood in Bellevue, as well as a stormwater management plan for the site. The City of Bellevue requested the design of a residential neighborhood that includes on and off site utility location and size, […]
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Beacon City Hall Engineering & Design
As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students designed a new city hall building for the City of Beacon, and provided recommendations for teardown and disposal of the existing building, including ways to divert materials from the landfill. […]
A Long Life for Long Branch: Tools to Preserve Independent Retailers
Through their work with the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, the Montgomery County Planning Department commissioned this report from the university’s Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS). PALS works with local jurisdictions throughout Maryland to identify projects and problems that can be taught through university courses where students focus […]
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Community Engagement for Vulnerable Communities: Flooding Impacts and Adaptation in East Riverdale-Beacon Heights
Flood hazards and associated damage are expected to increase in intensity and frequency in the coming years due to increased development and progressing climate change. The severity of these impacts is directly related to the characteristics of drainage basins; severity increases as impervious surface area and development in urban areas increases (USGS, n.d.). Rain events […]
Changing Landscapes: Farmsteads & Resort Towns
In the Fall semester of 2019, the University of Maryland Historic Preservation Studio class worked with the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in Prince George’s County through the Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) program. The purpose of the partnership was to create a heritage trail linking the communities of Aquasco, […]
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Tree Planting in Prince George’s County, Maryland: Case Studies and Benefits Assessment in Four Parks
The benefits of trees and forests and the ecosystems services that they provide is well documented. Ecosystems services include carbon sequestration, stormwater retention, water pollution reduction, air pollution retention and others. In addition, tree planting efforts provide numerous social benefits including improvement of community cohesion, increase in social capital, and environmental stewardship and education. In […]
Piscataway Valley Greenway
Piscataway Watershed encompasses approximately 67.6 square miles in southern Maryland just north and adjacent to the Mattawoman Watershed. The main stem of Piscataway Creek, centered in the watershed, flows approximately 20 miles from the upper creeks near Rosaryville, Woodyard and Joint Base Andrews west to Piscataway Bay – enframed by Mockley Point on the south […]