VCU Planning Programs Celebrate 40th Anniversary

By Mike Porter

Virginia Commonwealth University will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its urban and regional planning programs during an event on Friday, May 3, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Virginia Housing Development Authority’s Innsbrook Housing Center, 4224 Cox Road in Glen Allen.

The event also features the unveiling of a student scholarship fundraising campaign and a “Plan-Off!!” competition, in which students in VCU's Master of Urban and Regional Planning program will present to a panel of professional planners condensed versions of their work addressing regional planning issues.

The event is free and open to the public and the media. Professor John Accordino, Ph.D., who is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, is available to speak about the celebration and participating students can discuss the competition with interested reporters beginning at 3:15 p.m.

VCU’s undergraduate and graduate urban planning programs have trained more than 1,300 planners and completed more than 900 plans for communities throughout Virginia, the nation and abroad.

Student competitors in the “Plan-Off” will deliver five-minute presentations of their plans, which cover a variety of topics, including a plan for a freight village at the Port of Richmond, a composting plan for Carytown, a neighborhood plan for Battery Park, a corridor improvement plan for the town of White Stone and an area plan for Norfolk's Chelsea Industrial District. The judges will narrow the field of 18 plans to a "final four" and will ultimately select a tournament champion from that group.

Henrico County Director of Planning R. Joseph Emerson also will participate in the event and will discuss plans to transform Insbrook into an urban mixed use and traditional community.