M.U.R.P. students win 2025 Michigan Association of Planning awards
Two teams of Taubman College students in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (M.U.R.P.) program have won graduate student awards presented by the Michigan Association of Planning for 2025.
One team supported the efforts of a statewide pilot program to advance renewable energy projects on brownfield sites across Michigan. The other team produced a report for Ann Arbor’s Neighborhood Institute on potential challenges facing the proposed north terminus of a new U-M automated transit system and an alternate location for it.
Announced as part of the association’s annual statewide awards last week, the U-M teams each won Outstanding Graduate Student Planning Project honors for their capstone projects, marking the fourth straight year that Taubman College M.U.R.P. students were recognized with both awards given out in the category.
More info on each project is below:
Developing Solutions for Brownfield Renewable Energy in Michigan
Students: Christian Beswick, James Daye, Rebecca Griswold, Zhongyi He, Annie Lively, Jinren Yuan, Estella Zhang Qiming
Faculty Advisor: Sarah Mills
In November 2023, Michigan enacted ambitious renewable energy legislation. While large-scale renewable projects are crucial to meeting these goals, public support is stronger for siting projects on previously disturbed properties, such as brownfields, rather than farmland or forests. However, developing renewable energy on brownfields presents costs, infrastructure, and site selection challenges. To address these barriers, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy launched a Brownfield Renewable Energy Pilot Program. The University of Michigan graduate student team supported the program by identifying scalable models, tools, and resources to advance brownfield renewable energy across Michigan.
Creating Connections: A Terminus Relocation Proposal
Students: Aisha Al Ali, Calvin Blackburn, Christine Wang, Nikunj Dholay, Charlie Dimitry McCann, Aaron Johnson, Wenjing Zhang, Dmitri Rudakewich, Claire Briglio, Haosheng Xie, Stefan Nielsen
Faculty Advisor: Jonathan Levine
The transit centerpiece of U-M’s 2050 plan is the Campus Connector, an elevated Automated Transit System spanning about 3.5 miles from Central Campus to Ann Arbor’s northeast edge. This project studio examined the location of the system’s northeast terminus and its planned parking structure and proposed alternatives. The client for the report — Ann Arbor’s Neighborhood Institute — intends to use the report to advocate for transportation and land-use solutions that better integrate campus and community planning. The report’s anticipation of implementation hurdles, including regulatory requirements, property easements, and stakeholder interests, will aid in this regard.
