Analysis and Scenario Planning for Fairland and Briggs Chaney, Maryland

Abstract

This report is the output of the Fall 2021 Urban Studies and Planning studio at the University of Maryland, College Park. Through the Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), our class partnered with Montgomery County’s Planning Department to provide a planning sector analysis and scenario plans to aid in the development of the new Fairland and Briggs Chaney Master Plan, which is organized and guided by the draft general plan for the county, Thrive Montgomery 2050. The scope of work included analysis of existing conditions within the plan boundaries and the provision of three scenario plans ranging from no change to high levels of change.

We concentrated our attention within three thematic areas of emphasis: climate change adaptation and mitigation, economic and community development, and housing. Moreover, our central guiding principle for this project was justice; it informs everything we present here, and we hope that our work will contribute to its achievement. The report is organized into two major parts. In part I, in analysis of existing conditions, we cover a wide range of planning topics, including the history of the plan-area and special considerations related to our thematic areas of emphasis. In Part II, we present three scenarios of alternative futures for the plan-area: status quo, reform, and revolution.