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Community Planning capstone puts education to work in Butler

Auburn University Master of Community Planning (MCP) students leveraged their expertise to address issues in the Butler community just outside of Montgomery by turning residents' needs into actionable plans.

The capstone studio is the final requirement to earn an MCP degree. The course tasks students with working in a real community to develop real solutions.

Professor Rebecca Retzlaff said the course combines everything they learn in the program about planning history, theory, methods and concepts into a project that benefits the community.

"An essential part of being a city planner is working with members of the community," Retzlaff said. "The role of a city planner is to try to understand what members of the community want and need, turn those wants and needs into plans and policies, and then work to implement them. It is important for our students to get some experience at working with people and gathering community input before they begin their careers. This will ultimately make them better planners."

Butler is a close-knit community home to dozens of residents. It borders the Tallapoosa River, so one of its major challenges is flooding. When the river and its branching creeks overflow, residents face up to four feet of flooding.

Flooding causes property damage, prevents elder residents from getting in and out of their homes and draws animals such as snakes and alligators into yards. When beavers built a dam on Russell Creek, centrally located in a residential area, the flooding issues got worse.

Madison Melton, a second-year student in the MCP and Master of Public Administration programs, found a potential solution. Her project recommended a non-invasive pond leveler pipe – a device that allows water to flow through a dam.

Melton said the installation cost is low and the benefit for residents will be life-changing.

"I was drawn to the fact that planning gives technical, real steps to creating change. Policy is an instrument of creating change, but planning kind of puts those instruments into work," Melton said. "Working with this community was a way of using policy as well as planning to create real change for people. That's what I'm passionate about, working at the local level to do that."

MCP student Emeka Adibe's project focused on safety measures. He identified ways to work with local agencies to take down abandoned buildings, which host wild dogs and dangerous animals in the community. Adibe also recommended where to install sidewalks, crosswalks and speed limit signs to improve motor vehicle safety and identified nonprofits to support services such as a laundromat in Butler.

Adibe said the residents of Butler are resilient and cooperative, and he enjoyed helping them realize ways to achieve community improvements.

"That's one beautiful thing about planning. It gives you this firsthand experience with the actual people who are involved in this," Adibe said. "They begin to trust you, they tell you what they want and the more they're involved in this, the better it becomes because they will take ownership. You aren't just making plans from the classroom, they are taking ownership by doing this, and they've involved us in this plan."

Students held a community meeting in October and presented their final projects to the residents in December. They worked closely with Montgomery County Commissioner Isaiah Sankey, Butler resident Calvin Salery and other members of the Butler community throughout the semester. Residents now have plans to manage flooding, develop riverfront property, remodel the park and community center, and establish after school and career development programs.

Bernard Hill, director of corporate and community partnerships for Auburn Outreach, said the partnership pairs passionate, professionally-trained students with dedicated community members in a shared vision.

"Outreach represents all the hard work of faculty as well as staff that extends beyond the classroom. Outreach serves as the hands and feet of what happens in the classroom," Hill said. "So, it's taking all the great academic knowledge, all the research that's happening in the classroom, and really putting it into practice. It's what is happening in this class and what I think is so great about the partnership."

Hill and Retzlaff thank Montgomery County Commissioner Isaiah Sankey, who invited Auburn students to engage with the community. Sankey hopes to present some of their findings to the Montgomery County Commission and staff.

Learn more about the Master of Community Planning program in the College of Liberal Arts.

Tags: Students Community, Outreach and Engagement Political Science