Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research
APA Honors Grassroots Planning Effort in Comfort, Texas
October 14, 2020
UTSA’s Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research has been recognized for helping a small Texas community make big plans for its future. The Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association last week presented the plan—titled “Comfort Vision 2050”—with the Grassroots Initiative Award, one of just 15 Planning Achievement Awards for the year 2020. The Grassroots Initiative Award specifically honors an effort “that illustrates how a neighborhood, community group or other local nongovernmental entity utilized the planning process to address a specific need or issue within the community.”
Ian Caine led the planning team, which included William Dupont, professor of architecture; Corey Sparks, associate professor of demography; researcher Bill Barker; and Matthew Jackson and Thomas Tunstall of UTSA’s Institute for Economic Development. Additionally, student researchers Elizabeth Striedel, Ivan Ventura and Diego Sanchez made critical contributions to the drawings and field documentation. Thank you to the Comfort Area Foundation and National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders for initiating the process and to the UTSA team for all of the work. Most importantly, congratulations to the residents of Comfort for making such an important investment in your community’s future! (UTSA Today).
