NE-1962 Multistate Research Group is composed of scholars and extension researchers in various universities across the nation to study and provide evidence for the role of and mechanisms by which parks and other green environments support human well-being in three areas (1) health, (2) environmental literacy, (3) community vibrancy/resilience) and extend the knowledge gained to practitioners and other affected groups. For details, check out the website and NIMSS project description.

Current partnering states include Alaska, Connecticut, Iowa, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia.

 

This project entitled, “Best Practices in Bike/Pedestrian Trail Data Collection and Monitoring” was funded by the North East Regional Center Planning Grant (NERCPD). Colleagues at the University of Connecticut, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, and University of Minnesota partnered on this multi-state grant to share successes and learning from trail and non-motorized traffic monitoring initiatives, including the Connecticut Trail Census, the New Hampshire Trail Finder and the Minnesota Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting Initiative led by Dr. Greg Lindsey, a nationally-recognized scholar in the area of active transportation and research. The project will involve monthly meetings of team members with recorded webinar presentations, a face to face Bike/Pedestrian Data Colloquium, publication of colloquium proceedings, identification of research agenda items, implementation of three pilot data collection sites, and development of a collegial network.

A peer-reviewed research article entitled, “Rethinking design studios as an integrative multi-layered collaboration environment” was published in Journal of Urban Design. PDF download is available here.

Student presentation of design proposals for Wanat Park (Tolland, CT) was a great success! We had about 60 senior citizen coming out to attend the evening presentation event. Wanat Park project site is a 13.4-acre property on Sugar Hill Road in Tolland, CT, for the development of a new senior citizen park. Students had worked with town officials, local residents, and other stakeholders through site visit and design charrette. For project overview, see here.

UConn LA students, alumni, and Dr. Park got together at the CTASLA end-of-year party held in New Haven, CT. Two students from Dr. Park’s classes, Tony Madore and Moisés Hernández-Rivera were awarded Merit Awards for Planning and Analysis Category and Site Design Category, respectively. Congratulations!

 

Dr. Park participated in the Annual Conference on Landscape Architecture held in San Diego, CA, from November 15-18, 2019 and hosted an alumni tailgate meeting for previous UConn LA students and CT design professionals at the ASLA Expo.