Completed Projects
Leadership for Social Justice (JPST 365), Mike Klein
Fall 2019
Students will explore the stories of PLACE and residents through social justice lenses. Students will also collaborate with SCP Artist-in-Residence to translate their research into artwork.
See completed artwork by Sarah Nelson, SCP Artist-in-Residence:
PLACE & Urban Ecosystem Ecology (BIOL 490), Chip Small
J-term 2019
PLACE’s Via development in St. Louis Park, MN encompasses multiple sustainability goals, including social, economic, and ecological dimensions. PLACE would like to calculate the carbon footprint of Via residents. However, current carbon footprint calculators do not take into account the multiple dimensions of sustainability and affordable living that PLACE has integrated into their development. Students in Urban Ecosystem Ecology will create a carbon footprint calculator capable of integrating these multiple dimensions that can be compared to standard carbon footprint calculators. This will enable PLACE to quantify the difference in carbon footprint that living at their development can make for people.
Students will also collaborate with SCP Artist-in-Residence Sarah Nelson to co-create icons that convey students' findings for carbon savings that living at PLACE creates. The illustrations will be displayed at PLACE’s Via development to promote residents' awareness of actions to promote these possibilities.
Construction and Engineering Economic Analysis (ENGR 362), Deb Besser
Fall 2018
PLACE’s Via development in St. Louis Park, MN will be a “mixed-use, mixed-income, transit-oriented community demonstrating profound environmental design.” The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure has developed Envision criteria to assess the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. The Envision rating system consists of “60 sustainability criteria that address the full range of environmental, social, and economic impacts to sustainability in project design, construction, and operation.” Students in Construction and Engineering Economic Analysis will conduct an assessment of the Via development using the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s Envision criteria, analyzing and communicating how the Via development achieves various criteria. This rating will provide a powerful framework to communicate about the innovative design of the Via development. Students will also provide recommendations regarding actions to increase sustainability in this and future developments.
Law and Economics (ECON 321), Monica Hartmann
Fall 2018
In collaboration with PLACE, students will select research topics to explore issues of funding and policy for affordable living relevant to the Via development and PLACE's future development goals.
Managerial Decision Making (ECON 401), Monica Hartmann
Spring 2018
Systems Analysis and Design II (CISC 321), Tim Meyer
Spring 2018
Environmental Problem Solving (ESCI 310), Chip Small
Spring 2018
Economics of the Public Sector (ECON 337), Matthew Kim
Fall 2017
Students will analyze variables included in traditional affordable housing models in comparison with systems-based affordable living models to provide the building blocks for further economic analysis and public policy questions for courses to explore in collaboration with PLACE.