Landscape architecture student receives SEN grant for urban planning research

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Alyssa Humarang, a fourth-year landscape architecture student in the Stuckeman School, has been awarded a Student Engagement Network (SEN) grant to advance her research on the urban planning of European streetscapes, with a focus on walkable urbanism and spatial planning, this summer.

SEN grants are issued to students who are pursuing their personal development in areas such as social justice activism and awareness, civic responsibility, ethical leadership, systems thinking and professional development. The goal is to facilitate student engagement in personal growth through real-world projects, activities and experiences. 

The grant will support Humarang’s travel to Denmark and the Netherlands where she will be interviewing designers, analyzing street circulation, learning about historical sites through architectural walking tours and compiling her findings into a mini-documentary series.

While studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain, this summer, Humarang will study the city’s initiatives regarding walkable urbanism and the connectivity of the green net of neighborhoods.

She also plans to study the woonerf, a Dutch concept for a “living street” that makes room for pedestrians, cyclists and automobiles. The street is seen as social place within the city rather than a space for vehicles to get from point A to point B.

The goal of Humrang’s mini-documentary series, which will consist of three-to-five-minute videos focusing on each of the three countries she is visiting this summer, is to compare European streetscapes in each country and to offer suggestions for improving streetscapes and public design regulations in the United States.

Humarang hopes to use visuals to show the differences between urban planning in European countries to those in the United States.

“I saw how public spaces in Europe are more catered to the quality of life of people, it’s more intimate and people-focused,” explained Humarang, who studied abroad in Bonn, Germany during the fall 2021 semester. “It put a spark in my heart that really made me want to study this more.”

Humarang’s research began during her independent study with Peter Aeschbacher, associate professor of architecture and landscape architecture in the Stuckeman School. Her passion to pursue the independent study stemmed from her interest in urban planning projects that were not touched upon in other landscape architecture courses.

“What amazes me is how walkable European cities are. Within two to three minutes, you can go to your favorite cafe or bakery, but in most cities in the United States and even in some towns, you can’t really do that without using your car,” Humarang said.

Aeschbacher encouraged Humarang to apply for a grant to support her research and allow her to continue her study of urban planning.

Humarang’s inspiration to study landscape architecture and streetscapes stems from her high school community service experience. Through her service, Humarang discovered how places can shape human interactions and connections.

“It’s unfair how in the poorer communities, people have to travel to find a park while in more affluent communities, such amenities are in walking distance,” said Humarang. “That’s what inspired me to study these living streets. It focuses on walkability and people coming together to create an intimate space that they can enjoy.”

After graduating with her bachelor of landscape architecture degree from Penn State in August, Humarang will work for TBG Partners, a landscape architecture firm in Dallas. She hopes to use her work to help make cities in the United States more walkable and her goal is to travel back to Europe after a few years to further her education in urban planning.

Humarang chose to pursue her degree at Penn State because of the program that Stuckeman School provides to students.

“The Stuckeman School gives tours to prospective students and allows us to meet other students. When I was doing my tour, I knew it was a place I could genuinely see myself working and growing as a person…I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else.”

The Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which is the largest academic unit in the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State, is comprised of the Departments of Architecture, Graphic Design and Landscape Architecture.