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UB projects win regional planning awards
UB’s comprehensive physical plan recently took one of the top honors at the Western New York Section of the American Planning Association’s annual awards dinner and business meeting.
“Building UB: The Comprehensive Physical Plan” received a 2010 Professional Award in the category of comprehensive planning. Another UB project, a 2009 graduate studio project titled "Kid Corridors, Taking Steps to School," received the 2010 Outstanding Student Project Award.
The Professional Award for comprehensive planning is given to a comprehensive plan that advances the science and art of planning. An APA Western New York Section spokesperson called “Building UB” a plan “of unusually high merit,” and one that “significantly” advances the discipline. As a section winner, the plan will be nominated for an APA Upstate Chapter Award.
“This award is an important acknowledgement of the outstanding work of the entire university on the plan, as well as efforts of our host communities in Amherst, Buffalo and throughout Western New York,” said Robert Shibley, campus architect and professor of urban and regional planning in the School of Architecture and Planning, who directed the overall project. It was produced by UB with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP. Other partners are Andropogon Associates, landscape architecture; BFJ Planning, transportation; Baer & Associates, cost estimating; DEGW North America, educational programming; Ecology and Environment, sustainability; Foit-Albert Associates, historic preservation; Two Twelve, wayfinding; UB’s Urban Design Project, public participation; and VFA Inc., facilities condition assessment.
The award-winning student “Kid Corridors” project, directed by Samina Raja, associate professor of urban and regional planning, was a response to a request by the Town of Amherst to develop materials to encourage and educate children in the Williamsville School District to walk and bicycle to school.
The awards committee said "the submission was of unusually high merit and demonstrated innovative planning methods to address an important topic."
Thomas Maturski, assistant superintendent for finance for the Williamsville Central School District, called the award "well-deserved recognition for the students. The final report for the study was thorough and well-written, so I am not surprised that they have received this honor."
As part of the Kid Corridors planning process, UB planners held outreach sessions with children and adults in the school district, analyzed the built environment there using geographic information systems, conducted a detailed audit of two case study sites in the district (Country Parkway Elementary School and Heim elementary and middle schools), analyzed data from a survey of Williamsville students and parents, and reviewed applicable legal regulations.
They also developed materials for parents and children that included Kid Corridor zones, student safety education and detailed maps of safe walking and biking routes.
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