Community and Regional Planning Master’s Students Propose Climate-Friendly Redevelopment Scenarios for Bend’s Eastside

Students and faculty stand on road and converse with each other
MCRP students visited Bend, Oregon to meet with city staff and walk through the redesign site. 

University of Oregon’s Master of Community and Regional Planning (MCRP) program partnered with the City of Bend through the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) to transform a portion of the city’s eastside into a vibrant, sustainable community. An area on Bend’s eastside is a candidate for a Climate-Friendly Area (CFA) — CFAs are intended to be walkable areas that provide jobs, housing and features such as parks and schools to connect the community. 

If designated as a CFA, the candidate could redevelop and be redesigned as a more walkable and community-oriented neighborhood. The area currently holds auto dealerships, strip commercial buildings and big stores such as Safeway and Whole Foods with large parking lots. However, with high-density housing nearby, it’s a good candidate for a redesign. 
MCRP students focused on a unique theme when redesigning the area: equitable community, walkable neighborhood, climate resilience, and public space placemaking. 

“Students leveraged their skills as planners to understand a community's needs, values, and desires to create a sense of place that integrates affordable housing, mixed-use developments, and ample green space to create a vibrant, accessible, and self-sustaining community,” said Cameron Coronado, an MCRP student.

Students stand in front of power point presentation with microphone
Four MCRP student groups presented to the University of Oregon and the City of Bend their proposals for Bend's eastside redesign. 

Coronado reflected on how this experience transformed his education by combining his landscape architecture and community and regional planning programs. “Led by architect, urban designer, and Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson, students learned how to harness the power of design to solve some of our community's most pressing challenges, including combating climate change and promoting multi-modal forms of transportation.” 

Elyse Vukelich, Associate Planner for the City of Bend, discussed the importance of partnering with SCYP on this project. “The City of Bend chose to work with SCYP to gain innovative and aspirational ideas of what the Costco / Forum site could look like in the future. Since this site is located in a candidate Climate Friendly Area, we hoped students could reimagine the area on a human scale.” 

While the City of Bend doesn’t have plans for redeveloping this area, Vukelich highlighted the value of these recommendations. “These designs serve as a vision for creative re-use of the site as the city executes a growth plan, including the designation of Climate Friendly Areas.” 

- Denali Herrick, SCYP Communication and Visual Media Assistant, Master's in Advertising and Brand Responsibility ‘25