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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Subject: search.filters.subject.Economic development

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    Direct Annual Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Mobile Combustion Sources
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2020) Grove, Ben; Skoglund, Max; Sproul, Brett; Thomas, Lauren; Washington, Torin; Carroll, Mark
    Through their work with the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland (UMD), the Prince George's County- Department of Parks and Recreation commissioned this report from the university’s Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS). PALS works with local jurisdictions throughout Maryland to identify projects and problems that can be taught through university courses where students focus on developing innovative, research-based solutions. The Prince Georges County Department of Parks and Recreation was seeking to reduce carbon emissions by 50% from 2019 levels within Division of Maintenance and Development. This report centers obtaining research on the consumption metric for the vehicles (ie., mpg) and equipment (ie., gal/hr) present within the inventory and use these values in combination with the equipment and vehicle use metric (ie., miles, hrs) to determine CO2 emissions based on type of fuel required to operate the equipment or vehicle for the Prince Georges County Department of Parks and Recreation maintenance division .
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    Changing Landscapes: Farmsteads & Resort Towns
    (2019) Baum, Sara; Davenport, Grace; Duan, Amy; Graham, Josette; Jockel, Kathleen; Martin, Veronica; Schlossenberg, Tamara; Tariq, Hassan; Nasta, Paula Jarrett
    In the Fall semester of 2019, the University of Maryland Historic Preservation Studio class worked with the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in Prince George’s County through the Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) program. The purpose of the partnership was to create a heritage trail linking the communities of Aquasco, Eagle Harbor, and Cedar Haven in southern Prince George’s County.
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    A Framework Plan for Preservation and Growth in Creswell, Harford County, Maryland
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2019-06) Ali, Bilal; Latimer, Sarah; MacKereth, Nick; Nye, Kari; Ottalini, Russ; Smith, Jerah; Weller, AnnaLinden; Clites, Philip; Espinoza, Maria; Kerner, Bridget; Phelps, Brooks; Scott, Sacsheen; Goldsborough, Elena; Avin, Uri; Noonkester, Matt
    HarfordNEXT, the county’s 2016 Masterplan, calls for a comprehensive analysis of facilities needed to serve Creswell and asserts that future development must be compatible with the preservation of Creswell’s rural character. This mandate is the basis for the present study, conducted under the auspices of the University of Maryland’s PALS program in the spring semester of 2019. The HarfordNEXT language about the Creswell study is also the basis for five of this report’s goals: Conserve Farming; Protect the Environment; Preserve Rural Character; Minimize Traffic Impacts; Maintain Adequate Infrastructure. In addition to these goals, the team added two others: Provide Additional Housing; Ensure Positive Fiscal Impact. This course examined TDR (transfer of development rights) using CommunityViz software, and also conducted scenario planning using transportation and fiscal models. The appendix document was a collaborative effort, with the following courses completing the background reports for sewer and water infrastructure, environmental impacts, and public services in the Creswell area: ENCE422 Project Cost Accounting and Economics, LARC642 Graduate Studio III, LAW577B Environmental Legal Clinic, and URSP640 Growth Management and Environmental Planning.
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    Visit Harford Trail Map
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2018) Clites, Philip; Slawta, Patrick; Staton, Meagan; Peng, Binbin; Zhou, Frank
    This project focused on creating an interactive and searchable map of the most popular trails in Harford County for the use on the Visit Harford website. This report provides background on previously available searchable and interactive trail mapping, describes in detail what the project’s goals, discusses the data collection process, including where the data was collected from and qualitative data sought out. A significant amount of data about Harford County Trails is available online, but it is not consolidated in one place. If a visitor to Harford County wants to find a trail for hiking or biking, there are numerous incomplete data sources and maps provided by jurisdictions and independent organizations. The purpose of this project is to consolidate information on Harford County’s most popular trails so that visitors and residents have easier access to the beauty of Harford County through its comprehensive network of state parks, county parks, and trails. This report also describes how data was gathered and manipulated to suit this project. It also discusses the methodology, analysis, and visualization of the data. The primary purpose of this report is to explain how the team used the data collected for mapping purposes, as well as the project’s results. It includes a tutorial of how to use the final product with an analysis of how it might be used on the Visit Harford site. This new interactive tool can benefit Harford County residents and tourists alike. Ultimately, the interactive map will be incorporated into an app that visitors to Harford County will be able to use to find not just trails, but other attractions, such as dining, lodging, and entertainment. Visit Harford is the destination marketing organization of Harford County, Maryland with the goal of driving more tourism activity in Harford County. Their website includes many attractions for both residents and tourists. Through the PALS program, our class was tasked with providing the County with improved spatial data for tourist attractions in Harford County, making the County more navigable for those seeking to get the most out of their visits in and around Harford County. Our group was assigned to Harford County’s trails. At the project’s outset, Harford County did not have any kind of trail map that visitors could use. Additionally, the Visit Harford County website only had a list of trails in the county, without any meaningful qualitative data about the trails. In fact, the list of trails was included in the list of parks as a combined list of parks and trails.1 Our group was tasked with creating an up-to-date trails inventory with qualitative data about each trail, and then represent that data in an interactive map. There is currently no interactive format nor a single place for visitors to research trails. The only option is the Parks & Trails website where trails are consolidated with the parks. But not all trails are included, and the site doesn’t include a map.
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    Destination Harford County: Visualizing Tourism and Points of Interest in Harford County, Maryland
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2018) Brinley, Anna; Ottalini, Russell; Wong, Brittany; Peng, Binbin; Zhou, Frank
    This report details work conducted by urban studies and planning graduate students in the Planning Technologies course at the University of Maryland for Visit Harford, the destination marketing organization for Harford County. Using geographic information system (GIS) software to create visualizations of tourism points of interest, the team prepared maps for public dissemination in support of Visit Harford’s efforts to better promote its tourism sites. In response to Visit Harford’s request for a map that could be integrated into their mobile app, the team compiled contact information, descriptions, and social media rating data for points of interest, and created two interactive public-facing story maps using ESRI ArcGIS Online. The first product is a shortlist that gives comprehensive overview of destinations and activities in select categories on Visit Harford’s website and rack card marketing materials. The second product was created in response to Visit Harford’s request that we help them encourage tourists to explore destinations farther from the Interstate 95 (I-95) Corridor, a public-facing story map that provides a sample daylong itinerary incorporating destination information from the shortlist. Our analysis of available social media rating information for the destinations demonstrated that while there is little correlation between distance from I-95 and low ratings, analysis of drive-time from I-95 to destinations would be useful. The report concludes with some recommendations ways to use and incorporate the story maps and shortlist data into existing and soon-to-be created resources to expand tourist knowledge of the destinations.
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    The Harford County Artistic Destination Map
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2018) Bond, Sarah; Lane, Maria; Rodricks, Julia; Peng, Binbin; Zhou, Frank
    In September 2018, Greg Pizzuto, Director of Tourism for Harford County, Maryland gave a presentation of the county’s tourism information as shown on their website: https://visitharford.com. The county is exploring tourism-related initiatives but also seeking additional help in innovative ideas and methods to present areas of interest to the public. Through the Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) program, Harford County hopes to obtain additional ideas for enhancing their website and attracting visitors. The County has a variety of venues and information, but the challenge is determining the best method of presenting it to visitors. After Pizzuto’s presentation, the topics of interest were divided and the team pursued Art, Culture, and Festivals.