PLANNING FOR NET-ZERO CARBON IN PARK CITY, UTAH
BIOREGIONAL PLANNING STUDIO
Students in the Bioregional Planning (BRP) studio embarked on a challenging project in the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters. Funded by Park City and working under the guidance of Celia Peterson and Luke Cartin in the Sustainability Department, the students developed Alternative Futures for Park City that examine future growth in the context of the region, while exploring the opportunities and challenges of meeting the net-zero carbon objectives of Park City. Park City has established the ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2022 for municipal operations and 2032 for the whole community. In other words, Park City plans to balance its carbon emissions budget for the city operations in five years. They are one of the forerunner communities in the country that is actively exploring ways to
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sequester as much CO2 as they produce. LAEP students had the opportunity to contribute to that effort through a bioregional planning study of Park City and the surrounding Summit County. Starting with questions like: “What does carbon sequestration mean? How does one map or model the potential for CO2 sequestration? What does a carbon conscious community look like?�, the students researched and interviewed experts about how to identify and protect areas of existing carbon storage as well as how to develop areas for sequestering carbon in the future and strategies for reducing carbon emissions in Park City and surroundings. Over the span of two semesters, the students benefited from the input of local stakeholders,
Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning
