Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21474

The Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) is administered by the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). It is a campus-wide initiative that harnesses the expertise of UMD faculty and the energy and ingenuity of UMD students to help Maryland communities become more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. PALS is designed to provide innovative, low-cost assistance to local governments while creating real-world problem-solving experiences for University of Maryland graduate and undergraduate students.

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Author: search.filters.author.Kaku, UpasanaSubject: search.filters.subject.Prince George's County

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    Scenario Planning for Restorative Justice in Lakeland
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2022) Abban, John; Abe, Danielle; Asamoah, Heather; Dyson, Katharine; Farieta, Maria; Hackman, Michael; Jett, Connor; Kaku, Upasana; Kaushik, Redowan; Madden, Maureen; Mekonnen, Elizabeth; Mitchell, Caitlyn; Nkwantabisah, Pamela Owusu; Ripley, Benjamin; Spaniol, Matthew; Whiteheart, Rachel; Irazabal, Clara; Cameron, Hannah
    This report begins with a discussion of the concept of restorative justice and the three themes that guided and organized our work — community infrastructure, housing and land use, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Following this introduction of the three guiding themes, the report contains a summary of our analysis of existing conditions, including a review of different planning sectors, a brief history of Lakeland, and a summary of plans and policies that have influenced the course of Lakeland. The next section of the report is a summary of the findings of our various community engagement approaches, including recommendations for future best practices for the city and the Restorative Justice Commission as they continue this work. Finally, we present the three planning scenarios — Status Quo, Reform, and Revolutionary — that envision various alternative futures for Lakeland.
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    Pawndering Dog Parks for Prince George's County Parks
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2022) Abban, John; Abe, Danielle; Abel, Paul; Asamoah, Heather; Bardsley, Jesse; Cargill, Christina "Winnie"; Dyson, Katharine; Farieta, Maria Fernanda; Gebru, Dominique; Hackman, Michael; Jones, Asia Vernai'; Kaku, Upasana; Kaushik, Redowan Kabir; Madden, Maureen; Mekonnen, Elizabeth; Melmed, Andrew; Nkwantabisah, Pamela Owusu; Ripley, Benjamin; Santana, Ariana; Seyedebrahimi, Ebrahim ; Van Allen, Max; Velasquez, Deisy; Whiteheart, Rachel; Thomas, Louis L.
    Over the Spring 2022 semester, students investigated this topic while learning the skills associated with qualitative planning research. The researchers used methods that included archive and document analysis, environmental/behavioral and participant observation, soundscape and video documentation, critical cartography, and interviews. This study aimed to better understand how dog parks are used and the report makes recommendations for how to best design and locate dog parks to ensure their success. Questions of community, access, and equity were central to this inquiry. Seven case study sites were selected to examine a variety of park types, including variations in design, scale, location (urban/suburban), ecology (slope/stormwater issues, etc.), and material (grass/synthetic).
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    Envisioning the Future at Prince George's Plaza, MD
    (Partnership for Action Leadership in Sustainability (PALS), 2021) Dandy, Selina; Mencer, Abigail; Zadeh, Maryam Bana; Benham, Austin; Degroff, Andrew; DiBella, Nick; Haider, Alma; Jenkins, TaLisha; Kaku, Upasana; Konan, Yan; Vargas, Daryl; Vandergoot, Jana
    The semester was divided in 3 projects. For project 3, the studio worked with Prince George's Planning Department on creating urban design schemes for the Prince George's Plaza Transit District including analyzing relvevant case studies, site visit to Prince George's Plaza, site documentation/analysis, and design proposals rooted from historical research while responding to complex contemporary issues (social inequality, safety, climate change, urban ecology, public health, local/global economies) in order to produce urban design master plans, street sections, perspectives vignettes for near-term and long-term 2035 year plans.