Impacting Urban Futures
DAAPworks School of Planning
Impacting Urban Futures
school of planning
The several programs in the School of Planning will join DAAPworks 2025, exploring issues that impact the Cincinnati region, its communities, the economic and social development, and the natural and built environment.
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The motto of the School of Planning at the College of DAAP is "Impacting Urban Futures." Impacting Urban Futures for the faculty and the students means providing an inclusive environment where innovation and freedom of intellectual inquiry flourish for livable and sustainable futures that would impact real people and real communities. We celebrate here and in the building the exhibitions of the final works of the various undergraduate and graduate programs the school offers.​​
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master of community planning
capstone project
The topic ideas for the MCP capstone this Spring Semester 2025 originated from the Trend Reports for Planners released annually by the American Planning Association's (APA). The most current 2025 Trend Report is a detailed collection of existing, emerging, and potential trends in planning identified by the APA. The classification of existing, emerging, and potential trends in Urban and Regional Planning leads to three potential and time-sensitive planning scenarios: i) Act Now, ii) Prepare, and iii) Learn and Watch. As such, the 2025 APA Trend Report states that, “the purpose of the report is to share potential drivers of change and shifts that will possibly impact the work of planners and the communities we serve as planners.” Guided by the APA Trend Report of identified current and future trends in planning, this year’s capstone focuses on developing innovative, future-oriented, and ‘out of box thinking’ solutions on how to address emerging planning challenges. In brief, the capstone project theme is “planning (for) the future” where the future obviously merged with the present.
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master in landscape architecture
capstone project
The Spring 2025 MLA capstone leans on three formative initiatives: the Trend Reports for Planners released annually by the American Planning Association's (APA); the Climate Action Plan recently released by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA); and the Sustainable Development Goals released by the United Nations (UN). These three documents represent guidelines that all planners and designers must consider, particularly as they enter into practice in their respective professions. Guided by these three documents and the values embedded within, this year’s capstone focuses on developing innovative, future-oriented, and ‘out-of-the-box thinking’ solutions on how to address emerging planning and design challenges. Students are asked to include baseline information and how their solutions impact those baselines. In brief, the capstone project theme is Urban Futures – our collective future home. ​
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bachelor of urban planning
senior capstone project
The Urban Planning Capstone is an essential component of the Bachelor of Urban Planning degree, requiring students to use the knowledge acquired in the previous semesters in core courses, electives, and in their coop experiences. This course emphasized the future of regions, cities, and neighborhoods, exploring innovative practices and scenarios. For spring 2024, students analyzed urban innovation case studies, considering their implications for the public good using 2022, 2023, and 2024 Trend Reports for Planners developed by the American Planning Association (APA) in partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The BUP Capstone’s students were asked to investigate the trends described in the APA documents—such as climate change, the housing crises, or environmentally responsible transportation—and develop a scenario-based course of action to address the intersection of the identified urban problems, applying skills and tools they have learned for the past five years. As such, students were encouraged to be as creative as possible. Each student has suggested how to engage, incorporate, or face one of the potential trends to be applied to the City of Cincinnati and its region based on the cited documents and others discovered by the students or proposed by the faculty.
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bachelor of science in urban studies
senior capstone project
The BSUS capstone asks students of urban studies to design and undertake a significant exploration of a topic of individual interest. Students draw on experience with their degree focus area to develop a research question, design a research plan, conduct meaningful analysis, and create a final product which conveys their findings and looks forward to meaningful future implications for their work.
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bachelor of science in horticulture
senior capstone project
This year the 12 students in horticulture are each creating their own project in this expansive field. The horticulture capstone projects explore a vast range of research.