News & Events

CRP Professor Dr. William Siembieda Recognized for Disaster Science in Chile

This past April 12th, the Chilean Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Research (CIGIDEN) recognized William Simbieda’s contribution to the advancement of Disaster Science in Chile. CIGIDEN is Chile's leading center of excellence related to multidisciplinary disaster research. This award reflects William’s service as an International Advisor to CIGIDEN as well as his mentorship of Investigators working in the area of urban management, planning and public policy.

Part of the work in Chile, focused on coastal city recovery planning, was completed as a Fulbright Specialist. A couple of his other contributions include working on disaster recovery, and helping a local university create an urban planning program within the architecture college. This work with CIGIDEN is an extension of his overall research focus making the built environment safer, which was the basis for the 2016 Cal Poly Distinguished Scholar Award.

CRP at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Top Rated Program

CRP is again a top planning program in North America. For the past 10 years Cal Poly has consistently ranked near the top of programs for planning in the country according to the Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs.  According to the 2017 guide, the program is the #5 small program in the country and the #20 program in the country according to planning educators. More information about the Planetizen guide can be found here: https://www.planetizen.com/topschools

CRP Faculty Member Dr. Kelly Main Receives Award

Dr. Kelly Main received the 2016 Ally of the Year Award for last year from the Pride Center. This is a student nominated award given at the Lavender Commencement held each year.  
 
Kudos to Kelly for her tireless work to ensure all students feel welcomed and valued at Cal Poly and in CRP.
 

The award reads:

"In recognition of an amazing staff or faculty member who has shown exceptional support and advocacy for queer students and communities at Cal Poly."

Professor Paul Wack Retires and is Awarded for His Dedication to the Planning Profession

The American Planning Association has awarded Professor Emeritus Paul Wack, AICP (CRP) the inaugural 2017 Central Coast Section Impact Award for his dedication and commitment to the planning profession as a professor, colleague, professional, mentor, volunteer, contributor, and friend.  In the future, this new award will be known as the “Paul Wack Impact Award” and will be given to recipients, as warranted, that have demonstrated an extraordinary impact to the Central Coast APACA Section.

Paul Wack was a CRP faculty member at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo from 1979-2011.

Students Nominated for Outstanding Student Employee of the Year

APRIL 16, 2015

Cal Poly’s 2015 Outstanding Student Employee of the Year awards reception was held April 16th. Among the nominees were Elizabeth Grainger (CRP student and Student Assistant in the Office of the Registrar) and Cory Wilson (ME student and CRP Student Assistant). Click here for more information and photos.

Professor William Riggs is Recognized for His Study on Walkability

December 11, 2014

CRP Professor William Riggs is honored to be mentioned in an article written by Richard Florida, an American urban studies theorist. The article talks about walkability in neighborhoods and how it can shape housing prices, health, crime rates, etc.  Read the full article written by Richard Florida here: http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/12/growing-evidence-shows-walkability-is-good-for-you-and-for-cities/383612/

CRP 341 Studio Wins 2014 APA Award for Milpitas Project 

OCTOBER 22, 2014

The Planning & Neighborhood Services Department together with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Community and Regional Planning Program has won the Academic Award of Excellence for the 2014 Northern Section Planning Awards for their CRP 341 project (fall 2013). The Northern Section represents the nine county San Francisco Bay Area as part of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA).

These annual awards are sponsored by the Northern Californian Section of APA and showcase excellence in urban and regional planning over a variety of award categories. These awards are highly competitive and winning is truly an accomplishment to be proud of. This now qualifies the project for the California State Chapter awards that will be announced later this year.

Please see the web link below to view the awards website and all the award winners.

http://norcalapa.org/programs/awards/

CRP leaves a mark in Rio de Janerio's Olympic Games


CRP faculty Vicente del Rio was one of the team members that presented the runner up entry in the international competition for the Olympic Park Master Plan for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Winners were selected in August from 59 entries from all over the world. Besides serving the games, the plan considered a legacy mode that included a sustainable neighborhood to be developed in a 30-year horizon. Professor del Rio’s team included the SWA Group and Gensler (both through their Los Angeles offices), CDC and MPG (from Rio), Herrera Environmental (Seattle), and other consultants.

 

Portugal as a Learning Environment for Planning and Urban Design


From June 18 to July 15, a group of nineteen Cal Poly undergrads lived and studied in Lisbon, Portugal led by CRP faculty Vicente del Rio and Zeljka Howard, with the support of the Universidade Lusofona and faculty of their urbanism department. The group included thirteen students from CRP, five from Landscape Architecture and one from Architecture. This was the first time the CRP department offered an international study program of such duration.

The main part of the program consisted of an urban design studio at the university campus that lasted the whole duration of the trip. Divided into five interdisciplinary teams and joined by five Portuguese colleagues the students’ task was to design a mixed-use development for a 12-acre parcel located in a very busy area with important avenues, a train and a subway station, and a bus terminal along its edges. Originally occupied by a cattle market and used for a popular amusement fair for decades, the site is now vacant waiting on court decisions on its future. The project was a big challenge for our students not only because of their immersion in a totally new context but also because of the site’s important cultural past and its potential as one of the last big land reserves in central Lisbon. The teams responded to the site’s opportunities and constraints extremely well, and came up with creative but feasible solutions that impressed the local faculty and the director of Bragaparques, the proprietors of the parcel.

The program also included a series of talks, visits and studies of projects and places in Lisbon, Porto (Portugal’s second largest city), Cascais, Obidos, Sintra, and Lourinha. Accompanied by local faculty the students experienced cityscapes, castles, palaces, parks, museums and epic places dating from the roman and medieval to the contemporary. In Lisbon, for instance, they studied the Baixa (an area totally rebuilt after the big earthquake, tsunami, and fires of 1755) as well as the hilly areas of Bairro Alto, Chiado, and the Alfama (originally the Moorish district) where the medieval morphology, the baroque architecture, and the mixed land-uses generate engaging and hospitable environments of beautiful views and active social life.
The Lisbon summer study program was a big success that allowed students to experience one of Europe’s most attractive capitals and several other cities and towns that represent well the astounding mix of history, cultures, social capital, and urbanism that provide so many planning and urban design lessons.

 

Half Moon Bay City Planning Department Hires CRP Graduate Studio to Develop an Urban Design for its Downtown


Half Moon Bay is a lovely costal city of a little over 11,000 residents located in San Mateo County at a twenty-minute drive south of San Francisco. Besides its attractive beaches and natural settings, the city has a lovely historical downtown located between Highway 1 and the coastal mountains. The City’s planning department hired CRP’s graduate project planning studio (CRP 553) to develop an urban design plan for its downtown under the supervision of faculty Vicente del Rio and Zeljka Howard. The plan’s five major goals were: a) increase identity and provide attractive gateways; b) provide circulation and streetscaping solutions for better connectivity and walkability; c) propose a system of parks and public spaces; d) provide guidelines for contextual architectural design. The class followed a design process that included meetings with local leaders, field surveys, a community workshop, a focus-group workshop, and a final public presentation. The plan builds upon the strong opportunities in Half Moon Bay and the inputs from the different stakeholders, and it provides the community with a strong design vision that will help direct future development.

Here is a link to the Half Moon Bay Urban Design Plan.

 

CRP Undergraduate and Graduate Studios Present Projects to Long Beach Redevelopment Agency and the Community


In Spring 2011, CRP203-01 Urban Design Studio and CRP 553-02 Project Planning Laboratory worked with the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency and local communities to develop plan proposals for two areas of Long Beach, CA. Under Dr. Toker's supervision, CRP 203-01 developed three urban design plan proposals for Atlantic Avenue area. Under Dr. Toker and Dr. Dandekar's supervision, CRP 553-02 developed four specific plan proposals for East Anaheim Street Area. Both studios developed their proposals through participatory processes, meeting with local residents, community organizations and business owners multiple times through Spring 2011. The students presented their work to the Redevelopment Agency Board and the local community in early June 2011.

Cal Poly Housing Collaborative Wins the Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge


With their dynamic presentation, exciting video, and compelling proposal featuring a local San Luis Obispo site and developer, an interdisciplinary team of 10 undergraduates and  two graduate students  (6 City and Regional Planning, 3 Business School, 2 Landscape Architecture and  1 Construction Management) won the annual Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge.  With partner developer, Madonna Enterprises the hypothetical project named Entrada Ranch, located on Los Osos Valley Road, adjacent to the Irish Hills Plaza creates 135 units of affordable housing much needed in San Luis Obispo.   Rich in amenities the project creates quality work force housing that is sustainable, green and affordable. 

Fresh off their win against teams of masters students from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine, the Cal Poly Housing Collaborative Team will present their project to  San Luis Obispo’s Planning Commission May 25th. The hope is see a project built that draws inspiration from their award winning concept. Read more about the project here.

Global Engagement: CRP in Mexico


Global Engagement is one of CRP's educational objectives. Erin Cooper, a CRP dual master's degree student (MCRP and MTransportationEngineering) is part of a three-country project to understand sustainable urban management practices in Puebla Mexico; Montreal Canada, and San Francisco, USA. Erin was in Puebla in December 2010 to present her work in San Francsico, meet other students, and expand her knowledge of transportation systems in other countries. Erin went to Puebla with CRP Professor William Siembieda, who is the US faculty member for this research project supported by ColMEX, a Mexican research organization. 

Graduate students in the CRP 553 Project Planning Laboratory, lead by Professors Vicente del Rio and Paul Wack, dealt with a typical scenario encounted by professional planners. They were posed the question "what if you had been hired to amend the recently approved Orcutt Area Specific Plan for the City of San Luis Obispo?" The intent was solely educational and a new scenario was posed as the reason for the ammendment: the "clients" now wanted the community to be denser and prepared for a future light rail station along the existing train tracks. This exercise allowed students to develop practical planning skills starting from an existing EIR and specific plan, and the amendment process allowed them to engage in real-life planning while still providing a relatively "blank slate" for design innovation. City officials and original designers of the plan were brought in to present and give feedback to the class. The project was aptly named Righetti Station (after Righetti Hill, a prominent natural feature at the site and one of San Luis Obispo's the nine volcanic morros). The class produced the Righetti Station Specific Plan, developed around a new vision and five principles (quality, connection, vibrancy, engagement, innovation) and including policies and guidelines for land use and development standards; conservation, open space and recreation; circulation; and community design.

 

CRP Develops Avenue 12 Corridor Redesign Plan in Madera County


In 2009 the CRP Department signed a contract with Madera County's Planning Department to help them develop a plan to redesign Avenue 12 at Madera Ranchos. Connected with a grant from Cal Trans to Madera County, this job resulted from the county's concerns about current and projected traffic along Avenue 12 and the impacts of a future bypass on the community's walkability and quality of life. In the summer of 2009, CRP's assistant professor Umut Toker conducted a series of community workshops at Madera Ranchos which resulted in the Vision Plan for Avenue 12. In the spring and summer quarters of 2010, professor Vicente del Rio (CRP) and instructor Vangeli Evangelopoulos (Landscape Architecture) joined their urban design studios to advance on the Vision Plan and traffic studies, and developed the Avenue 12 Corridor Redesign Plan. This Plan presents a series of short and long term development scenarios for both public and private realms, providing the community with ideas on how to accommodate future growth and invest in place making and walkability. In paralel to these efforts, CRP associate professor Cornelius Nuworsoo developed a series of traffic studies later combined with the redesign plan and resulting in the Transportation Plan.

 

Cal Poly’s City & Regional Planning Department Ranked No. 1 in Nation


SAN LUIS OBISPO – Planetizen, the only national ranking organization for planning programs, has ranked the Cal Poly City & Regional Planning Department’s graduate program (MCRP) No. 1 nationally of all programs without a Ph.D. 

Since the 2009 rankings, the MCRP has moved up five spots – from 25th to 20th – of all graduate planning programs in the nation. Cal Poly’s MCRP program was placed 6th in the top 10 graduate programs in the western United States.
The latest Planetizen surveyed hundreds of educators and students – along with the schools themselves – to gather information about what makes a good planning school and to find out which schools meet those criteria.
“These rankings are a testament to City & Regional Planning’s superb faculty and evidence of the outstanding training the program provides to prepare students for the professional work force,” said Hemalata Dandekar City and Regional Planning department head. “I am delighted at the recognition of the quality and commitment of our students and faculty.
“It’s an indication of the service our students will be able to provide to the State of California and to the profession through innovative and creative work with diverse communities,” Dandekar said.


For more information about Planetizen, go to http://www.planetizen.com/topschools.

 

"Faster Than Average" Job Growth Expected for Urban and Regional Planners


According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2010-2011 Job Outlook Handbook, urban and regional planning jobs are expected to grow by 19% between 2008 and 2018. While 66% of planners are reportedly employed by local governments, the fastest job growth is expected in private sector architecture and engineering firms. 

 

CRP Receives National APA Award


CRP's City of Delano Strategic Plan wins APA's National Small Town and Rural Planning Award for a student project. Professor Kelly Main and Delano's Community Development Director Keith Woodcock will receive the award at the APA National Conference in New Orleans. Click here to access the Delano Strategic Plan page.

 

Urban Planner Ranked Among Top 50 Jobs of 2010


U.S. News & World Report has ranked urban planning as one of the top 50 jobs for 2010 with expected strong growth over the following decade. The article notes that expanding population requires investment in transportation, affordable housing, and schools—all of which require planning. It is projected that the field will grow by 19 percent from 38,400 to 45,700 jobs.

 

CRP Receives Two Awards


California Chapter of the American Planning Association gives two awards to City and Regional Planning Department projects.

Cal Poly’s City & Regional Planning program’s exceptional work with municipal partners has been recognized for its quality and impact. The 2009 awards committee, coordinated by Jessie Barkley of PBS&J, of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association has given the City & Regional Planning department two academic awards of merit for work completed this past year. This continues a tradition of assisting California’s communities to improve their cities through excellence in planning.

An academic merit award was given for The Downtown Delano Urban Design Studio for the work done by instructor Umut Toker and his students for downtown Delano. This project was nominated by Delano’s Community Development Director, Keith Woodcock. This work has set the guidelines for Delano’s efforts to improve its entire downtown design image and public realm. This project was one of three support efforts that CRP engaged in with the City of Delano over the past year with faculty and students.

An academic merit award was given for the Draft Benicia Climate Action Plan; work done by instructors Adrienne Greve and Zeljka Howard and their students for the Town of Benica’s a Community Development Department. This is a state of the art plan for addressing the city’s energy use and its program to address the challenges of climate change. Ms. Greve will be continuing her work in Climate Action Planning with other cities in California. Click here to access Benicia Climate Action Plan website.

The awards will be presented to at the annual chapter meetings to be held in Lake Tahoe on Tuesday September 15, 2009. The California chapter has encouraged the recipients to submit their work for national award consideration to the American Planning Association.

 

CRP Expanding CAED's Global Engagement


Expanding Global Engagement is one of the CAED’s four strategic themes. One example of how this is occurring is a three-country study of sustainable urban management practices. Projects in San Francisco, USA; Montreal, Canada; and Puebla, Mexico form the basis of this work that looks at how the city governments are nurturing and expanding sustainability of the built environment in their cities. The work is being undertaken by William Siembieda from the CAED’s City and Regional Planning Department, Marie Lasserve from the College of Urban Design at the University of Montreal and Blanca Rose Tellez from the College of Architecture, Benemertia Autonomous University of Puebla. These efforts are support by the a grant from the Colegio de Mexico under its North American Studies (NAFTA) program. Students from each university participate in the project as part of they studies; thus forming a new generation of professionals with an expanded global outlook.

In Montreal projects in this effort include the restoration of Mont Royal,a limestone quarry that had become a regional garbage dump; but is now home to the Cirque de Soleil Worldwide Training Center, a electric generating plan powered by dump’s methane gas and a will have a new regional park when completed. In San Francisco projects include the Presidio an unique attempt as sustainable historic preservation and habitat restoration under a regime of economic sustainability. In Puebla projects of new sustainable peripheral development are being examined.

An analysis of the different general plans and the sustainability plans of each city form the basis for understanding the local government framework for sustainability, and how each city is trying to expand the collective consciousness of its citizens. The project team is using different protocals to understand how to assess and evaluate sustainable projects in the built environment including protocals from Europe as well as the US.

The CAED and the Benemertia Autonomous University of Puebla have signed an exchange agreement to engage in student exchange and faculty projects. This project is one way of making the agreement real and opening up global opportunities for students.


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Bank of America Affordable Housing Challenge

MAY 22, 2013

An interdisciplinary team of Cal Poly students earned first place in the 22nd annual Bank of America Low-Income Housing Challenge, a regional competition. This is the third time in three years that Cal Poly has won this competition.

Team members included business administration major Cameron Anvari; city and regional planning students Brian Harrington, Nuri Cho, Andrew Levins, Emily Gerger and Tim McGarvey; and architecture graduate student Smita Naik.

Together they created The Cambria Pines, a development proposal for an affordable housing project located in Cambria, Calif. It was described as “masterful,” “innovative,” and “realistic” by Gail Lannoy, community development banking executive for Bank of America.

Cal Poly Terra Housing Studio

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