As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning developed a plan for Mason City's North End Neighborhood.

Graduate students in the School of Urban & Regional Planning course Community Development in the Upper Midwest worked with 4^th-6^th graders from the Delwood Community School District in Delmar, IA to produce videos and books that tell the story of the community through interviews with longtime residents. 

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning developed a sustainability plan for the City of Mason City.

Students in the School of Urban & Regional Planning developed a model comprehensive plan for the City of Salix that incorporated Smart Growth principles.

Urban and Regional Planning students examined trends of income inequality in the Iowa City metropolitan area and developed a plan identifying income inequality trends in Iowa City, case studies of similar areas, and strategies for supporting affordable housing in the community; poster displaying results and recommendations; and presentation displaying results and recommendations.

Urban and Regional Planning students created the Trails economic impact plan that provides research on the benefits of the current trails system in Decorah, Iowa and provides recommendations on how to continue expanding it as well as a presentation displaying research and results, and a poster displaying research and results.

Graduate students in the School of Urban and Regional Planning worked with city officials in Decorah to assist in the preparation of a revised comprehensive plan that included Iowa's Smart Planning Principles, which were adopted in 2010 by the Iowa Legislature.

Graduate students in the School of Urban and Regional Planning worked closely with a citizens group in Decorah, We Can Decorah, to promote energy conservation and the use of environmentally friendly stormwater drainage techniques.

This project focused on the Leeds Neighborhood, located in northeast Sioux City. The commercial corridor within this neighborhood serves as the northeast entryway into Sioux City. The corridor contains a mixture of small retail stores, restaurants, and service establishments that serve the local neighborhood. As new national brand commercial developments continue to develop to the south of the Leeds neighborhood, the future character of its commercial corridor has been called into question. Students from the Urban & Regional Planning Dept.

Graduate students in the School of Urban and Regional Planning conducted a project that aided Sioux City in fulfilling its recently-designated Blue Zones ProjectTM requirement of developing an active transportation plan.

Students surveyed best practices of community riverfront redevelopment efforts similar to what was being looked at for the redevelopment of the section of the Mississippi River in Muscatine. The students solicited community input to identify the best uses for the land, ultimately producing a plan for the riverfront.

Students in the School of Urban and Regional Planning developed a connectivity master plan for Muscatine that evaluated current infrastructure and created a plan for better connectivity between walking and biking trails, sidewalks, streets, bus routes and major points of interest.