planning

Two urban planning professors are looking to improve communities’ resilience to flooding by investigating the relationships between flood infrastructure systems, the communication networks between planning agencies and the natural hazard plans they create.

Hurricane Harvey’s widespread damage forced cities throughout the U.S. to take a more critical look at their infrastructure and hazard mitigation plans, said Galen Newman, Texas A&M associate professor of urban planning.

As memories linger of a fatal 1995 Chicago heat wave, urban planners have new knowledge from researchers that included Sierra Woodruff, assistant professor of urban planning, to help them use “green” roofs to counteract the effects of future heat waves

Some of the world’s most vibrant urban areas spring from partial developments and upgrades, not the “scrap and build” approach widely applied in urban regeneration, said Koichiro Aitani, associate professor of architecture, in his new book.

The wide variety of research and creative work by faculty and doctoral students will be showcased at “Natural, Built, Virtual,” the college’s 20th annual research symposium, October 29, 2018, at Preston Geren Auditorium.

Leading designers, authors and educators will discuss a wide variety of completed and ongoing projects in the 2018 LAUP Fall Lecture Series. The public lectures are scheduled at 6 p.m. in Scoates Lecture Hall room 208 on Mondays throughout the upcoming months.

As flooding costs worldwide threaten to top $60 billion annually, Sierra Woodruff, Texas A&M assistant professor of urban planning, is studying whether natural hazard plans created by municipalities actually improve flood resilience.

Texas A&M architecture and landscape architecture students collaborated to develop concepts for a Japanese retirement village designed to enhance the health of elderly residents by integrating them with young families and college students.

As La Grange, Texas recovers from post Hurricane Harvey flooding, residents and elected officials are considering Texas A&M student proposals that address the town’s infrastructure, housing and transportation needs.

The ill effects of gentrification, like pushing lower-income families from their homes and reducing affordable housing availability, are decreased by programs that lease public property to low-income households, said Myungshik Choi, a Texas A&M Ph.D. graduate.

A Texas A&M student's design proposal for a coastal Texas city’s commercial and residential development, including natural and engineered solutions to prevent flooding, was featured on WLA, an international website showcasing student and professional work.

This spring, first-year Texas A&M environmental design students envisioned how future population needs of historic Siena, Italy could be met by building models of elevated urban environments atop existing buildings.

A team of Texas A&M urban planners are investigating the value of allowing “citizen scientists” to collect environmental data for agencies charged with protecting lives and property in natural disasters as part of a two-year National Science Foundation study.

Texas A&M urban planning and public health researchers are studying whether a new El Paso bus rapid transit (BRT) line — a system with dedicated lanes that mimic the efficiency of rail transit — changes walking habits of residents who live close to the line’s stations.

Shannon Van Zandt, a distinguished educator, researcher, author and administrator who joined the Texas A&M College of Architecture faculty in 2005, is the new head of the university’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning.