 |
| Derek Schultz and Jarred Walters look over a poster presented to the Pasadena Transportation Advisory Commission. |
 |
| Chris Palmer presents ideas to enhance transportation. |
About 30 Urban & Regional Planning seniors presented a plan to encourage and expand pedestrian usage along Colorado Boulevard to the Pasadena Transportation Advisory Commission on March 9.
The presentation, which was the culmination of about six months of work, was well received by the commission and may eventually be woven into a plan to make Old Town Pasadena more pedestrian friendly.
“The commission was very, very impressed,” says Julianna Delgado, a commissioner and URP Professor at Cal Poly Pomona. “It was very professional and well done.”
The students, who are enrolled in Professor Rick Zimmer's Community Planning Studio course, have been working on creating designs and policies that improve existing gathering spaces, create pedestrian paths, reduce the use of the automobile, provide more comprehensive public transportation and create better directional signs for the public in the city.
“This project gave us a better understanding of how to start and complete a project in the professional urban planning realm,” says Derek Schultz. “This was our capstone class before graduating, and it definitely gave us a real-world experience.”
The final report by the class is comprehensive, offering conceptual designs and justifications for improvements. The students have been conducting their analysis since September.
The Pasadena Transportation Advisory Commission hopes that the students' findings and recommendations can be used to reduce traffic, enhance the business and community atmosphere along Colorado Boulevard, and offer new ideas to create better public spaces.
The class had students work as a team with city-related groups to gain real-world experience in the urban planning profession. It is one of the final courses leading to a degree in Urban & Regional Planning at Cal Poly Pomona.
The Urban & Regional Planning program has students work outside the classroom to learn how public policies are implemented and how to communicate better with the public. The students are encouraged to use various urban design concepts they have learned when working with city-related groups. These concepts can be used to enhance public safety and comfort. The curriculum offers hands-on experience along with teaching urban planning theory.