VCU news

By Mike Porter

Virginia Commonwealth University will celebrate the next generation of planners as part of the third annual “VCU Plan-Off!!!” competition, which features the work of graduate students in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program.

The competition will take place on Friday, May 2, from 3:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. at the Virginia Housing Development Authority’s Innsbrook Housing Center, 4224 Cox Road in Glen Allen. The event is free and open to the public. Reporters are invited to cover the competition.

Each student will have five minutes to present a plan or thesis to a panel of professional judges and convince the judges of the value of their work in solving a real-world planning, public policy or management problem. The judges will narrow the field of 19 plans and theses to a "final four" and will select a tournament champion from that group.

The students’ plans cover a variety of topics, including transit, urban design, neighborhood revitalization, food management, wayfaring and tourism, tactical urbanism, green building practices, bicycle safety and emergency preparedness. The plans include projects in Richmond and Petersburg, the Williamsburg area and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Spotsylvania.

Established in 1973, the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program is accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board and provides professional grounding in the theory and methodology of planning through a curriculum that balances classroom and field experience. The Master of Urban and Regional Planning is a two-year degree program requiring 48 semester hours of class work and 120 hours of internship experience. The program is part of VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.