Where are they now?: Marlana Brown

Marlana Brown has a fascinating job in the California desert as an Encroachment Planner with an environmental consulting company called Marstel-Day LLC. (http://www.marstel-day.com/) based out of Fredericksburg, VA but with offices at several locations. She works at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC, http://www.29palms.usmc.mil/) in Twentynine Palms, CA which is about three hours drive from Los Angeles and focuses on compatible land use developments, community relations, and economic development analysis. MCAGCC is a 24/7 live-fire military base for Marines training for Afghanistan and Iraq. Her job is to work with the surrounding communities to ensure that any subsequent developments do not conflict with the Marines' ability to "train as they fight." She has used almost every aspect of her Urban Planning Degree including Land Use Planning, Economics, Development Finance and Physical Planning. In Marlana's words, "Through my experience as the Treasurer of UPPSA (2007-2008), I gained strength in budget management, leadership and organization. I truly believe that this experience added to my ability to secure gainful employment within months after obtaining my MUPP."

UPPSA elections for the 2009-2010 academic year are around the corner! Remember to take a look at the UPPSA Constitution for position descriptions. Watch your email for more details or ask an UPPSA board member.

Highways To Boulevards

America's twentieth century highway building era included elevated freeways which cut huge swaths across our cities, decimating neighborhoods and reducing quality of life for city residents. This massive concrete infrastructure had devastating effects on urban economies. It blighted adjacent property and pushed access to basic amenities further out. With the Federal and State Departments of Transportation confronting shrinking budgets and cities looking for ways to increase their revenues, it is an ideal time to offer less expensive, urban alternatives to the reconstruction of urban expressways. New York City, Portland, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Seoul, South Korea have confronted this problem by replacing elevated highways with boulevards, saving billions of dollars and increasing real estate values on adjacent land.


Website: http://www.cnu.org/highways
Source: Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)

Traffic: How We Drive

Balancing the flow of traffic, the desire for people to move great distances quickly and the need maintain an urban fabric that serves all people, pedestrians, skateboarders, bicyclists, and the like, is an important part of planning. Author Tom Vanderbilt keeps a blog of interesting tidbits relating to the psychology of driving and how it affects the human experience in cities.

Most posts relate to his book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), though many relate to the urban planning. It's worth a look if the mesh between traffic flow and physical environment interests you.

To read more: http://www.howwedrive.com/

Chicago Tonight talks with author of new book, "Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs: A Historical Guide"

"Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs: A Historical Guide" via Chicago Tonight

Chicago Tonight takes a historical ride through local neighborhoods with Chicago expert, Ann Durkin Keating as she talks about some of the areas featured in her newest book "Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs: A Historical Guide."

For those in UPP505/506, they talk briefly about the history of Blue Island.

Watch the clip at WTTW Chicago Tonight

For more on Ann Durkin Keating's book check out the University of Chicago Press

Urban Renewal Redux in Bronzeville

As the city of Chicago continues its quest to land the 2016 Olympics, many who’ve worked hard to rejuvenate the Bronzeville community into a hub of African-American history and commerce now fear the city’s Olympics plans will push them out. And some say it’s an ugly déjà vu.

To read more:
http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=31434


Sidenote: UPPSA's next TOD (Feb. 20th) will be in Bronzevilee.

Planning Rwanda

Just before nine one morning in May, I arrived at the Alpha Palace Hotel, not far from the center of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. A team of American architects waited nervously outside, dressed in blue suits and holding battered travel tubes of drawings. In them was the conceptual master plan for the future of Kigali: a sweeping vision to turn today’s red-dirt ad-hoc city into a verdant capital with tree-lined boulevards, mixed-use neighborhoods, a new university, parks, and a network of wetlands to mitigate storm-water runoff. OZ Architecture, from Denver, along with EDAW, a landscape-architecture and urban-planning firm, had been quietly working on the scheme for three years. This morning, 13 years after Rwanda’s genocide, they would present it to an audience of local planning officials, foreign consultants, and politicians. I had come to watch, to see what American-style urban planning looked like in Rwanda, and what it could possibly do to help transform a place of poverty and struggle into one of prosperity and peace.

Read more:
http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20071121/planning-rwanda

Source: metropolismag.com

What will happen to the globe when oil production, human population and the food supply all reach their peak?

Author Richard Heinberg <http://www.richardheinberg.com/> forecasts whatwill happen to the globe when oil production, human population and the foodsupply all reach their peak.

Hint: It's not pretty.

Richard Heinberg podcast http://www.wbez.org/Program_WV.aspx?episode=30484

The Long View -- By embracing the city’s industrial past

METROPOLISMAG.COM - November 2008

The Long View
By embracing the city’s industrial past—reclaiming landfills, remediating brownfields, developing neglected waterfronts—James Corner has helped reinvent the field of landscape architecture.
By Andrew Blum

"As a 20-year-old intern in the London office of Richard Rogers, James Corner could barely contain his frustration. It was the early 1980s, and they were working on the first pieces of the transformation of the London docklands from derelict industrial port to stylish commercial district. But at that scale, on so complex a site, Corner saw only limitations. “All the architects knew how to do was put awnings on existing buildings,” he recalls. “All the landscape architects knew how to do was put trees everywhere. And all the traffic engineer knew how to do was to optimize getting cars in and out of the development.” Over pints at the pub, Rogers and his partners “would complain that they didn’t have the conceptual or imaginative tools or techniques to do the whole thing synthetically.” Corner, who grew up outside of Manchester, left soon afterward to study at the University of Pennsylvania—where he is now head of the landscape-architecture ­department—but he never let go of the lesson: “There is a desperate need for a different kind of professional who isn’t so Balkan­ized, who is capable of seeing a bigger picture and choreographing a bigger team.”

To Read More:

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20081119/the-long-view

UIC SPH Global Health Interest Group

If you are interested in Public Health issues and would like to get involved with an on campus organization. Check out the UIC School of Public Health's Global Health online interest group. Participate in the conversation surrounding global health issues and get involved.

Click the link for more

UPPSA News: Transit Oriented Dining, Dues, and Leadership Opportunities

MUPPS,

Hello everyone, hope you all had a great holiday! Whether you are a
returning member or it is your first semester, now is the time to get
involved with UPPSA. See below on how to participate.

Here is how you can get involved:

1) Fill out an UPPSA Registration Form and pay your dues(CHECKS/MONEY ORDERS ONLY) by FEB 1.

Registration is good for 1 year. Drop off your registration form and your dues (CHECKS/MONEY ORDERS ONLY) at the reception desk (on the 2nd floor, you will see the sign). The deadline for submitting your registration forms and dues is FEB 1.


2) Sign up to take on a leadership role at the next UPPSA general assembly meeting (Jan 23 6-7).

In order to participate in these leadership opportunities you must be a registered UPPSA member. These events will allow you to take on a leadership role, interact with professionals in the planning field, and provide a boost to your resume. Some examples of leadership opportunities include (but are not limited to):

a) organize CMAP Community Conversations around the 2040 Regional Plan,
b) coordinate student participation with the Alumni Association regarding
Charrette scheduled in the Spring,
c) coordinate volunteers to participate in CMAP's FLIP (Future Leaders in
Planning) program (see attached),
d) coordinate with APA and UPP administrators to organize a mentorship mixer,
e) coordinate with APA and other professionals to organize a dinner and
panel presentation ($1000.00 budget),
f) organize a spring break trip and activities to Milwaukee,
g) design and create a marketing pamphlet for UPPSA,
h) coordinate and advocate for student participation with CMAP's Community
Design Workshops (see attachment)

3) Important dates:

a) Friday Jan 16, 6-9 - TOD (Transit Oriented Dinning) - Friday Jan 16 from 6-9 - Come meet, eat, and drink at the closest place for a beer and a burger to Cuppa Hall, Jak's Tap!

Jaks Tap is Chicago’s premier multi-tap restaurant and bar featuring forty (40) draught beers, great food, award winning ribs and friendly neighborhood atmosphere.

Located at 901 W. Jackson Blvd

b) Friday Jan 23, 6-7 - General Assembly Meeting. Location is the lounge in the basement of CUPPA. Pizza and beverages provided.

Hope to see you all at the next UPPSA event!

Best,

UPPSA Board