“Since 2015, the Citizen Planning School has been adopted by the UB School of Architecture and Planning and supported by faculty and students through an annual credit-bearing course. Still offered as a free opportunity for community members, the program is focused on cultivating “Champions for Change” with support from UB students, past participants, and dedicated mentors from across the Buffalo planning and non-profit community.”

During my Spring 2023 semester, I was a Student Advisor at Citizen Planning School. Essentially, we students are given a number of community residents to choose from—residents looking to improve their community. I worked with a woman named Wendy Paterson who was looking to develop a trail system around her neighborhood parks. Currently, the parks are largely ignored by her neighborhoods—many people she asked had no idea these parks even existed. Her goal was that this trail system would bring more attention to these parks.

Attached below is a sketch Wendy had given to me showing what she wanted to be illustrated in map form. What began as a simple sketch would turn into the illustration you see above—ideas changed many times over the course of 14 weeks.

On the right (on mobile: below) I’ve attached a portfolio during my time at Citizen Planning School. This includes everything I worked on and everything given to Wendy at the end of the semester. This portfolio was given to Wendy as a resource to continue developing her trail system.