Bioregional Analysis & Planning

The 2021 Bioregional Studio was led by professors Todd Johnson and Carlos Licon with support from alumni Matt Starley. This year’s studio was supported by Lupita McClenning in her role as Director of Planning and Development Services for the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District. The mission of the MSD is to adopt planning responsibilities approximately 83,000 Salt Lake County residents living in the 5 Metro Townships, Town of Brighton, and Unincorporated Areas of Salt Lake County. This charge provided a wonderful opportunity for second year graduate students to engage in planning from the perspective the “Great Basins” formed under ancient Lake Bonneville.

The students began looking at historic settlement patterns along the Colorado Plateau, determining that three major north-south lines of settlement (Front Range/Colorado, Wasatch Front/Utah and coastal front/California) provide settlement opportunities for the Western United States. The Wasatch Front will experience extreme growth pressure from coastal migration (following fires and Covid) and this must respond better to the underlying resources and environmental systems of the Wasatch. Major takeaways from the studio centered on the protection of scenic beauty, the need to establish open space systems to bolster the function of the environmental framework, and the importance of guiding growth away from prime agricultural land.

A comprehensive “diagram” emerged from the collective work of four teams. This “parti” or master diagram illustrates the importance of the structure and balance of developed and preserved areas to promote the “life elevated” motto of the State. Graduate students Amanda Hamilton, Tayli Hilliard, Hooman Hadayeghi, and Patricia Beckert took it upon themselves to coordinate team efforts into the final document. Bioregional planning studios really stretch the “critical thinking capacity” of the professors and students in our graduate program.

Special thanks to the MSD Planning team Alex Rudowski, Mikala Jordan, and Kayla Mauldin.