Fall 2021 Studio Presentations: MUP, MSRED, BAED

Dec. 6 - 15, 2021

Our Fall 2021 studios in urban planning, environmental design and real estate development invite you to attend their final presentations exploring innovative solutions and case studies across Western New York.

“Neighborhood-Scale Climate Action”

URP/END 450 / Mary Allen, adjunct professor of urban planning

Image of Rochester's South Wedge neighborhood.

The climate is changing as so too must our built environment. So often this challenge is presented at large scales, leaving individuals overwhelmed and driven to inaction. Our design question: How can designers and planners better connect solutions at scales that impact everyday life?

This studio conducted semester-long research on a neighborhood in Rochester, New York known as the South Wedge. This studio partnered with Climate Solutions Accelerator, a local nonprofit serving the Genesee-Finger Lake region, where we explored climate action planning, and design solutions benefiting the community as well as addressing climate needs.

“Community Investment, Redefined: Reducing Financial Obstacles with M & T Bank on Buffalo's East Side”

URP/END 450 / Annie Schentag, PhD, adjunct professor of urban planning

info graphic showing racial wealth gaps in homeownership.

This studio explores racial wealth gaps in homeownership, with a specific focus on the barriers to obtaining a mortgage experienced by Black communities in Buffalo's East Side. Homeownership is a tool for building wealth, but it has failed to benefit people of color as much as it has benefited white homeowners due to a long history of unequal treatment and redlining. How might we eliminate the barriers that people of color experience when obtaining a mortgage? Focusing on a few specific communities on the East Side, students will investigate historic impacts, existing challenges, current processes, and other bank lending strategies. This course explores environmental design strategies and person-centered approaches to develop a report and presentation of findings with recommendations for our client, M&T Bank.

MSRED Capstone Studio

END 593 / Jeffrey LiPuma, adjunct professor and senior fellow in real estate development

This semester teams of two students each have worked on live potential development projects that reflect their interests in entering the real estate industry. During the semester, the students have worked on drafting a business plan that focuses their team’s real estate interests. They then identified a real potential site for building their inaugural signature development. Areas of student interest include affordable housing, mixed use urban development, trending industrial user needs and opportunistic real estate plays.

The teams will be presenting their full development plan, including market analyses and financial analyses, to industry experts in an “investor shark tank” panel format. Each student team will have twenty minutes to present their development projects with time for questions & answers with the panel. After all of the projects have been presented, the panelist will engage with the teams and decide what projects they would “invest” in.

This capstone format allows the students to show what they have learned throughout the complete MSRED program curriculum. Attendees will have a firsthand view of what the students have learned and the skills they are now bringing into the US real estate industry.

“Convergent Histories on Broadway: An Exploration of Normative and Non-Normative Approaches to Historic Preservation & Interpretation”

URP 581-582 / Kerry Traynor, clinical associate professor of urban planning and director of graduate programs & historic preservation

December 8, 2021, 3:00 pm
Hayes 403
UB South Campus

Zoom Link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/2829406650?pwd=dUpqc1EyeEJYS3FzL21aSnhSR0NKUT09

former armory building, now a City Garage, at 201 Broadway in Buffalo.

The University at Buffalo Fall 2021 Historic Preservation Planning Studio will present its framework for the preservation and interpretation of the properties listed in Victor Hugo Green’s “Negro Motorist Green Books.” The Negro Motorist Green Books were travel guides published yearly between 1936 and 1966 that listed welcoming establishments to African American travelers during segregation. The businesses documented in the NMGB provide a snapshot of the daily life and accomplishments of Buffalo’s African American community. Most of these sites do not exist today after urban renewal swept through the area. The studio will explain its proposal to utilize the former armory building, now a City Garage, at 201 Broadway as an anchor point and bridge between the former Green Books sites and the work of the Michigan Avenue African American Heritage Corridor.

“Connecting Broadway-Fillmore”

URP 581/582 / Conrad Kickert, PhD, assistant professor of architecture

December 8, 2021, 4 pm - 6 pm

Zoom Link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/93436913932?pwd=MUxjUGJuNFRQV2FYOXJaSlNKZ1NVdz09

Case Study - Park Mini Master Plan

END 350 / Jonathan Bleuer and Andrew Schaefer, adjunct professors in urban planning

Thursday, December 9, 2021, 5:30 pm - 8 pm

Zoom Link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/99503048799?pwd=aWlzSmwweFN6a1N2d0NjZndaelN3Zz09

“The Role of Memorials in Cities”

map of Buffalo showing an inventory of public art.

END 450 / Libertad Figuereo, adjunct professor of urban planning

December 10, 2021, 11 am - 12:30 pm

Zoom Link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/95611266328?pwd=Qk9ydWI4OG5nODBBV05wa0xCZUIydz09

The studio partnered with the Buffalo Arts Commission to develop recommendations that promote a more diverse environment through Buffalo’s memorial and public art inventory. Students examined how monuments, memorials, and public art can be used to invigorate a public space and connect a community to its history, honoring significant events and figures that represent a more inclusive history. The studio analyzed the planning, development, and design process of public art in public spaces to understand concepts of placemaking, and focus on the social and human aspects of planning and design.  Recognizing a lack of a diverse representation among many of the City’s publicly owned and managed memorials, the studio provides a framework for how to enhance a sense of place and cultural identity within the City of Buffalo.

“Building Urban Hamlets II: Imagining a Post-Highway Future in Buffalo, NY”

URP 581/ARC 605 / Hiro Hata, associate professor of architecture and urban planning

December 15, 2021, 4 pm

Zoom Link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/96949665845