At the recent American Planning Association conference, students from Boise State’s urban studies and community development program won a 2025 APA Idaho Planning Award. These awards honor outstanding projects, plans and leaders who are shaping Idaho’s future through visionary and collaborative work in community planning.
The team of urban studies and community development students (Cecilia Calvo, Olivia Dillon, Melanie Figueroa Zavala, Shelby Rodriguez, and Jacob Ruther) were recognized with the Student Planning Project award for their work on “The Lusk Reimagined,” a project completed as part of the 2025 Urban Studies Field School course.
The field school focused on Boise’s Lusk District, a densely populated area just walking distance from campus. Urban studies students were tasked with investigating potential urban designs, starting with data collection about the area through on-the-street interviews and a survey.