Planning students receive prestigious award by NJ Chapter of American Planning Association

Rowan University Community and Environmental Planning students have received the prestigious Planning Excellence Award 2019 by the New Jersey Chapter of American Planning Association (APA-NJ). These awards honor planning initiatives, built projects, individuals, and organizations that are in the forefront of planning and design in New Jersey.

This is the first time Rowan students have received an award in the category “Outstanding Student Project,” which recognizes outstanding class projects or papers by a student or group of students that contribute to advances in the field of planning.

Students enrolled in Community Planning and Site Design in spring 2019 worked on a semester long project on green infrastructure planning in Camden under the supervision of Dr. Mahbubur Meenar. The class produced five group reports. Based on the ideas generated by three top-scoring projects, students Meghan Wren and Devon Moulton drafted the final project report, titled “Greenspaces + Placemaking Plan in Camden's Waterfront South.”

The report was highly praised by the jury. According to the award letter forwarded to Dr. Meenar: “The Awards Jury was incredibly impressed with your nomination and the valuable work of your students as it relates to stormwater management and flooding. The community outreach by the class is also very commendable and a true testament to Rowan University’s Department of Geography, Planning, and Sustainability.”

Meghan and Devon were officially presented this award on October 30, 2019 at the APA-NJ Annual Awards Reception event in South Orange, NJ. Later, they were invited to present their work at the 2020 New Jersey Planning Conference in New Brunswick, NJ, along with other award winners. After receiving the award, Meghan said, “This is the first time for Rowan Planning students, but certainly will not be the last.”

To learn more about this project and the course, please visit https://www.planviz.org/comm-plan-site-design.