Community engagement enables the planning faculty and students to address
community needs.  

Community engagement goes beyond service because leaders of public, non-profit, and community-
based organizations define the problems that need to be resolved and seek our help to resolve them. 
Through application workshop courses, faculty and students work collaboratively with these North
Carolina clients to specify the class projects to be undertaken.


Over the course of the semester, students combine creativity and technical capabilities to produce
plans, strategies or recommendations for community improvement.   Projects vary each year but
generally focus on affordable housing, community development, economic development,
environmental protection, growth management, land use planning and transportation.

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Reconnecting Planning and Design
Urban Design Issues for Planners / Planning Issues for Designers
June 2004


Project sites were selected with specific problems assigned to teams consisting of both planners and designers.
Teams were asked to develop solutions that would apply to both planning and design regulations and to develop
responses in keeping with the emphasis on a more vibrant, walkable, pedestrian and transit oriented downtown.

The workshop began with opening remarks by DCRP’s Emil Malizia, and included such topics as: Differences in
Approach: Designers and Planners and their Failure to Communicate, Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, and
Implications of Policy on the Design of Urban Open Spaces.

Sessions where led by both planners and designers, both academic and practicing.  Members included: George
Chapman, City of Raleigh; Rich Ducker, Institute of Government; Dan Douglas, Raleigh Urban Design Center;
Jeff Ulma, City of Cary; Gina Bobber, Town of Holly Springs; Roger Waldon, Town of Chapel Hill; Kimberly Brewer,
TetraTech; David Walters, UNC-Charlotte; and Achva Stein, NC State University.

Charrette sites included:
Downtown Infill
Greenfield: The Dix Campus
Urban Bypass/Strip Development on Western Avenue
Redevelopment Raleigh West Side

Sponsored by the North Carolina Chapter, American Planning Association (NC APA) and the NC State University
College of Design

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Workshop seeks vision for housing
By Geoffrey Graybeal : The Herald-Sun
Oct 4, 2003

Chapel Hill -- About 80 residents gathered Saturday morning at Carol Woods Retirement Community
to plan a nearby low-cost housing subdivision.  Habitat for Humanity turned to a charrette, a deadline-
driven open design workshop, to get a vision for its 17-acre property on Sunshine Road.

"It's a problematic site but a charrette is a problem-solving exercise," said leader David Godschalk, a
well-known professor of city and regional planning at UNC. "Be creative, have fun and generate something
that will be worthwhile to the community," Godschalk told participants.  Read more...

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FEASIBILITY OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEAR DOWNTOWN DURHAM
(REAL ESTATE WORKSHOP/MALIZIA)
The Durham Housing Authority recently acquired a site near downtown Durham appropriate
for new housing development.  A team of both graduate planning students from DCRP and
MBA students completed a comprehensive feasibility study that proposed the development
of 65 rental townhomes and duplexes.  The project would compete for Low-Income Housing
Tax Credits and use concessionary debt financing to make the units affordable for tenants
earning $18-36,000 per year.  The study included government relations, market research,
site plan, capital budget, revenue/expense analysis, financial analysis, and risk mitigation.

The study was favorably reviewed by an expert panel of non-profit and for profit low-income
housing developers, a NC Housing Finance Agency representative and tax-credit syndicators. 
It has been made available to interested parties to help assess the challenges of building
affordable housing in this area.

DEVELOPMENT OF A PARK-AND-RIDE PLAN FOR THE RESEARCH TRIANGLE REGION
(TRANSPORTATION WORKSHOP—PROFESSOR RODRÍGUEZ)
The Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) views the provision of park-and-ride facilities as important
for building transit ridership in preparation for the regional rail system. By encouraging greater
use of transit, well-designed park-and-ride facilities can contribute to goals of congestion
reduction and air quality improvement and potentially build a market for future transit system
extensions. A team of DCRP students with expertise in geographic information systems (GIS),
land suitability analysis, travel data analysis and scenario planning, contributed to the formulation
of a sound park-and-ride strategy for TTA. The main findings were presented to the Board of TTA.

DCRP students analyzed current technical and policy issues related to park-and-ride facilities and
identified general pitfalls associated with their design. They examined how transit agencies can
encourage more compact development around rail stations. Students highlighted potential tools
TTA could use for park-and-ride redevelopment: land acquisition & management, station targeting,
station area marketing, coordinated facilities & infrastructure investments, coalitions & partnership
building, and external funding sources. Using available data, DCRP students then developed design
tools to identify corridors and assess possible locations for park-and-ride facilities. They evaluated
six major destinations: Downtown Chapel Hill/UNC, Duke University, NC State University,
Downtown Durham, Downtown Raleigh, and Research Triangle Park and determined whether
corridors associated with these destinations could be served by existing or realigned TTA bus
service. The final report proposes feasible strategies for situating park-and-ride lots within each
corridor.

NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA IN TRANSITION PLAN
(COMMUNITY/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP—PROFESSOR QUERCIA)
Although global economic dynamics transplanted low-skill manufacturing jobs from industrialized
nations to less developed countries, North Carolina’s position as textile industry leader allowed it
to resist this trend during the 1980s. In the 1990s, however, the competitive advantage disappeared.
Workers now find themselves in the void between the demands of manual labor and the skills of the
new information economy and the service sector.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration offers grants for distressed regions to devise a
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) to address the new challenges that they
face. Eight North Carolina counties--Ashe, Allegheny, Davie, Forsyth, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry,
and Yadkin--are developing a CEDS for their region. DCRP students focused on the workforce
development initiative of the CEDS process.

The class found the following points particularly noteworthy:
• The workforce development is regional in nature and should be centered on community
    colleges and JobLink centers.
• A mismatch exists between the skills of the workforce, the training opportunities that
    they are offered, and the skills that businesses demand.
• No centralized institution offers guidance for workforce development best practices.
• Workforce development in Northwest North Carolina needs a regional institution
     for leadership, which may be the future role of the NWNC CEDS Committee.

LONG RANGE PLAN FOR MONTREAT CONFERENCE CENTER
(LAND USE/ENVIRONMENTAL WORKSHOP—PROFESSOR MOREAU)
In 2002, DCRP was contacted by the president of Montreat Conference Center to assist in
preparing a comprehensive plan for Montreat’s Long Range Planning Committee. Participants
in the Long Range Planning Committee include the Conference Center, Montreat College, the
Town of Montreat, and the Cottage Owners Association.

The project was intended to survey current conditions in Montreat, identify issues, and prepare
alternatives for development of a comprehensive plan. Elements of the plan included: land use
and land supply, housing, transportation and related services, water supply, wastewater
services, stormwater management, zoning and development ordinances.

DCRP students prepared two written reports. The first report was a State of the Community
Report, and the second was entitled Comprehensive Plan Alternatives for Montreat, North
Carolina (approximately 125 pages). Alternative policies were identified and three possible
scenarios of growth were developed. The report was presented to the Long Range Planning
Advisory Committee of Montreat.

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Triangle Business Journal Leadership Award
May 22, 2003

Jamie Cox (DCRP 2001), a real estate attorney with Smith Moore LLP, received the Triangle
Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Leadership Award in recognition of his professional and
community accomplishments. Tracing its roots to 1919, Smith Moore LLP counsels clients
throughout the Southeast.

Mr. Cox worked for the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC-Chapel Hill earlier
in his career and earned a master's degree in regional planning from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2001.

40 Under 40 Leadership Award
Each year, the Triangle Business Journal honors 40 of the brightest, most promising young
individuals in the Triangle through the 40 Under 40 Leadership Awards. Each of the honorees
must be under 40 years of age, maintain a leadership role of importance in their organizations,
have made significant achievements in their careers during the past year, and have taken part
in community service.

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Carolina jumps to fourth in Peace Corps volunteers
March 6, 2003
reprinted from University Gazette

Carolina has jumped to number four among large colleges and universities in the number of
alumni who serve in the Peace Corps, and the University ranks first for the entire mid-atlantic region.

There are 76 Carolina alumni serving in the Peace Corps -- a 52 percent increase from 2002.
More than 848 Chapel Hill alumni have served since 1961 or continue to do so.

Last month, Henry McKoy, Peace Corps Africa regional director and a North Carolina native, recognized
Carolina for its support of Peace Corps service around the world.

McKoy, a former adjunct instructor in the University's Institute of Government, was elected to the North
Carolina senate in 1995 and earlier worked as deputy secretary of the North Carolina Department of
Administration.

The recognition came against the backdrop of the University opening a Peace Corps recruiting office on
campus in Hanes Hall as part of University Career Services. Recruiters Badi' Bradley (DCRP)
and Erin Shaughnessy Zuiker both served as Peace Corps volunteers in Guatemala and Vanuatu
respectively. Bradley is a master's degree candidate in city and regional planning, and Zuiker
is master's degree candidate in public health.

While she said the office has helped, Zuiker also attributed Carolina's high ranking to its emphasis
on incorporating service learning into the academic curriculum, as well as organizations here that
give students the chance to join service projects in the community and overseas.

Zuiker also said many students arrive at Carolina from high schools that have service requirements,
so serving is something they're used to.

There are practical benefits, too, she said.

"Many students realize that the job opportunities with Peace Corps afford an incredible experience
to work hands-on in a relevant field that many college graduates would not usually get in their first
work experience," she said. "And the opportunity to learn a second or third language is a wonderful
asset in our global economy."

Zuiker said the "future is wide open for students to get involved with the Peace Corps."

"With the presence of on-campus recruiters providing many events on the campus and class talks
as well as a strong and supportive community of Peace Corps alumni within the University as well
as the Triangle area, there is great potential to increase the number of volunteers from Carolina,"
she said.

The majority of volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps over the past 42 years have been
college graduates. Currently, 86 percent of the volunteers have an undergraduate degree and 12
percent have graduate degrees or have studied at the graduate level.

Since 1961, more than 168,000 volunteers have served in the Peace Corps, working in such diverse
fields as education, health and HIV/AIDS awareness and education, information technology, business
development, the environment, and agriculture. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at
least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a two-year commitment.

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Worthwhile Trade-Off
February 27, 2003
reprinted from The Daily Tarheel

Making the Northside neighborhood a conservation district and increasing University ties
should kill advocates' efforts to ban duplex construction townwide.

A group of graduate students in UNC's Department of City and Regional Planning are
multitasking by learning, helping an often-ignored neighborhood and working to ease tension
between students and residents at once. Led by Professor Bill Rohe, the students have been
working side by side with residents of the Northside neighborhood to find ways to lower the
neighborhood's crime rate.

The area, which covers parts of both Chapel Hill and Carrboro northwest of the UNC campus,
has fallen from a working-class community to a neighborhood plagued by crime and drug dealing.

By assisting in stopping the neighborhood's decline, these students exemplify UNC's mission of
public service and should be applauded.

Another important benefit of the group's project, now in its fourth semester, is the progress made
on alleviating some ill feelings many in this neighborhood feel toward University students.

During this academic year, the debate over duplex construction became a divisive issue. Many of
the homes in the Northside district have been converted to duplexes over the last few years, primarily
to attract UNC students. Northside residents have complained vociferously about the lifestyle of the
new arrivals, calling it disruptive and destructive.

Neighborhood activists fought hard for a prohibition on the building of new duplexes through June 30.
Chapel Hill Town Council members passed the ban -- which many students actively opposed --
unanimously in October.

On Monday, the Town Council approved the conversion of Northside to a Neighborhood Conservation
District. This nominal change will make it nearly impossible for people to buy houses and convert
them to duplexes for students.

The innovative action by Rohe's graduate students, along with this change in the neighborhood's
classification, ideally will take some wind out of the sails of the push to ban duplex construction
townwide -- largely led by vocal Northside residents.

And it might just be working. Residents who spoke to The Daily Tar Heel had nothing but positive
comments about the efforts of the graduate students, even saying the group's efforts already are
yielding some visible improvements in the area.

It is, of course, unrealistic to expect the graduate student project to solve all resident-student
conflict. But if the popularity of this impressive project is any indication, they're off to a good start.

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DCRP has been recognized for it's contributions to the State Employee's
Combined Campaign (SECC)
In the face of tight budgets and uncertain economic times, SECC reached 88% of it's campaign goal.
The SECC is the only charitable giving program authorized for the state employee workplace. The
purpose of the SECC is to allow state employees the opportunity to contribute to charitable
organizations in an orderly and uniform process.

For more information regarding SECC goals and a complete list of charities see: http://www.unc.edu/secc/faq.html

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DCRP sponsors a
Community Outreach Committee
The Department of City and Regional Planning
is proud to sponsor a student run Community
Outreach Committee that connects members
of the Department with volunteer opportunities
throughout the Triangle Region, and provides
opportunities for students to share their
knowledge of Planning with interested
community organizations.

Current projects include Habitat For Humanity
and the Sierra Club's Inner City Outings youth
program.

For more information on how to take part, or for volunteer assistance with a project in your
community, please email: hoshea@unc.edu.

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Group taps into service mind-set

Q&A with Badi Bradley, UNC-CH graduate student
and Peace Corps recruiter

By ANNE BLYTHE, Staff Writer
News & Observer
With 50 alumni in the Peace Corps, UNC-Chapel Hill is 10th
among the nation's colleges and universities sending volunteers
off to foreign lands for two-year stints with the 41-year-old
organization.


This fall, the corps opened its first recruiting office, with two part-time recruiters, on the
Chapel Hill campus, one of 40 such sites nationwide. Another office is at N.C. State
University in Raleigh. Badi Bradley, a graduate student in city and regional planning from
Mount Airy (NC), and Erin Shaughnessy Zuiker, a graduate student in public health from
Cleveland, are the recruiters in Chapel Hill. Bradley, who was posted in urban Guatemala
from 1997 to 1999, talked in an interview about his experience as a recruiter and goals for
the office.

Read the complete Q&A interview