For Community and Regional Planning (CRP) students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, planning is not just something they study in a classroom. This semester, they are putting that education into practice by working directly with the city of Bennington to explore its future.
Led by CRP instructor Jesse Poore, the collaborative planning studio is helping Bennington consider how it can grow while maintaining the qualities that make the community distinctive. For Poore, the project also represents a full-circle return to a community he first worked with more than two decades ago as a CRP student.
In 2003, Poore and fellow CRP students helped develop Bennington Pathways, the community’s first modern strategic plan. Now, as an instructor, he has returned with a new generation of students to build on that work.
“We like to think of it as Bennington 2.0,” said Yunwoo Nam, Community and Regional Planning director.
The students began by listening and learning about the community through a site visit and conversations with local committee members. They are exploring three central questions: What makes Bennington, Bennington? What are its assets? And what challenges could the community face as it works toward its vision for 2050?
The questions are important for Bennington, but they also provide an authentic learning experience for students as they develop the skills needed for professional planning.
City Administrator Kevin Hand said the project brings together students and community members with different perspectives and interests.
“We want Bennington to grow, but not just in size, but to grow with what the community wants,” Hand said.
The project is expected to result in a strategic framework addressing approximately five-, 10- and 20-year horizons and building on Bennington’s previous planning efforts.
For Poore, the value of the studio extends beyond the final product. He remembers participating in the original Bennington project as a student and watching classmates gradually take ownership of different aspects of the work.
“That was the first discovery that we were actually activating planning as an implementable process,” Poore said.
He sees the same opportunity for today’s students.
“It gives students the opportunity to step into that and see the value of it in real time,” Poore said.
Graduate CRP student Sarah Murrel said the project is giving students experience they cannot replicate entirely in a classroom. Students are learning about the community, developing ideas and considering how those ideas could be implemented.
“When you leave the program and you jump into a planning position, you don't have any idea of what that's actually going to look like unless you've had some time to get into the community and do some actual planning for real-life members of our communities,” Murrell said.
The experience also reflects the broader role of Community and Regional Planning at a land-grant university. Hand said the collaboration benefits both the community and the students, who gain experience working with business owners, city officials and other stakeholders.
As students graduate and enter planning positions throughout Nebraska, those experiences can continue to benefit communities across the state.
“It is a win-win for communities like this,” Hand said.
For Murrel, who grew up in Weeping Water before moving to Omaha, the project has added personal meaning. Working with a smaller Nebraska community has given her a new appreciation for the value of local identity and the resources that students can bring to a community.
“Being able to be part of this larger organization at UNL and coming to help this small town, I just know what it's going to bring to them and what it means to them and their identity,” she said.
More than 20 years after the first Bennington planning project, Poore and his students are once again working alongside the community to consider what comes next.
For Bennington and UNL's Community and Regional Planning program, the project represents an ongoing relationship — and an opportunity for a new generation of planners to learn by helping a Nebraska community plan for its future.
