The several programs in the School of Planning will join DAAPWorks 2024, exploring issues that impact the Cincinnati region, its communities, the economic and social development, and the natural and built environment.

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The motto of the School of Planning at the College of DAAP is "Impacting Urban Futures." Impacting Urban Futures for the faculty and the students means providing an inclusive environment where innovation and freedom of intellectual inquiry flourish for livable and sustainable futures that would impact real people and real communities. We celebrate here and in the building the exhibitions of the final works of the various undergraduate and graduate programs the school offers.

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master of community planning

capstone project

The topic ideas for the MCP capstone this Spring Semester 2024 originated from the Trend Reports for Planners released annually by the American Planning Association's (APA). The most current 2023 Trend Report is a detailed collection of existing, emerging, and potential trends in planning identified by the American Planning Association )APA). The classification of existing, emerging, and potential trends in Urban and Regional Planning leads to three potential and time-sensitive planning scenarios: i) Act Now, ii) Prepare, and iii) Learn and Watch. As such, the 2023 APA Trend Report: “… this report addresses the future of planning, explaining how the planning profession will have to evolve to keep up with a continuously changing world, what new skills planners will have to develop, and which new tools are worth trying.” Guided by the APA Trend Report of identified current and future trends in planning, this year’s capstone focuses on developing innovative, future-oriented, and ‘out of box thinking’ solutions on how to address emerging planning challenges, such as climate change, increasing demand for affordable housing, or access to public transit, while acknowledging the shift towards incorporating future technologies, such as Smart Cities thinking, Big Data analysis, or Artificial Intelligence (AI). In brief, the capstone project theme is “planning (for) the future” where the future obviously merged with the present.

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master in landscape architecture

capstone project 

In the 1960’s and into the early 1970’s, the Cincinnati General Hospital (now a new name of University of Cincinnati Hospital) conducted a series of total and partial body irradiation experiments/tests performed on at least 90 patients with funding from the U.S. Department of Defense – this studio will explore the impacts of these experiments and disputed levels of consent of these patients (victims) and to keep the remembrance alive, students will develop designs for a memorial in commemoration of the victims, their families, and communities impacted.  This dark history hidden and suppressed by the university presents a challenge for this capstone to make visible and accessible a memorial to commemorate and give each victim back their humanity by acknowledging them in an individual and personal way, and the memorial will also provide to aspiring medical personnel space and opportunity to reflect on the responsibilities that come with their chosen profession.

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bachelor of urban planning

senior capstone project

The Urban Planning Capstone is an essential component of the Bachelor of Urban Planning degree, requiring students to use the knowledge acquired in the previous semesters in core courses, electives, and in their coop experiences. This course emphasized the future of regions, cities, and neighborhoods, exploring innovative practices and scenarios. For spring 2024, students analyzed urban innovation case studies, considering their implications for the public good using 2022, 2023, and 2024 Trend Reports for Planners developed by the American Planning Association (APA) in partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The BUP Capstone’s students were asked to investigate the trends described in the APA documents—such as climate change, the housing crises, or environmentally responsible transportation—and develop a scenario-based course of action to address the intersection of the identified urban problems, applying skills and tools they have learned for the past five years. As such, students were encouraged to be as creative as possible. Each student has suggested how to engage, incorporate, or face one of the potential trends to be applied to the City of Cincinnati and its region based on the cited documents and others discovered by the students or proposed by the faculty.

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bachelor of science in urban studies

senior capstone project

The BSUS capstone asks students of urban studies to design and undertake a significant exploration of a topic of individual interest. Students draw on experience with their degree focus area to develop a research question, design a research plan, conduct meaningful analysis, and create a final product which conveys their findings and looks forward to meaningful future implications for their work.

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bachelor of science in horticulture

senior capstone project

This year the 12 students in horticulture are each creating their own project in this expansive field.  The horticulture capstone projects explore a vast range of research.