The Center for Resilient Metro-regions (CRM) provides community planning and applied research to help communities and regions develop more sustainable and resilient planning and design solutions.
Most of our work is in strategic planning, sustainability, resilience, land use, climate change, urban greening and low-impact development, public space, housing, and community economic development. We work at a range of scales, from rural communities to complex metropolitan regions. As appropriate to the challenge, we organize projects through consulting contracts, as a class studio project providing skilled teams and service-learning, or providing student interns. If you are interested in CRM services, complete the form, below, or email us us here.
The Center for Resilient Metro-Regions is located within the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. CRM supports the Department’s areas of excellence in community engagement, regenerative urbanism, and regional and greenway planning
Most of our work is in strategic planning, sustainability, resilience, land use, climate change, urban greening and low-impact development, public space, housing, and community economic development. We work at a range of scales, from rural communities to complex metropolitan regions. As appropriate to the challenge, we organize projects through consulting contracts, as a class studio project providing skilled teams and service-learning, or providing student interns. If you are interested in CRM services, complete the form, below, or email us us here.
The Center for Resilient Metro-Regions is located within the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. CRM supports the Department’s areas of excellence in community engagement, regenerative urbanism, and regional and greenway planning
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CRM Services
The Center is a vehicle for Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (LARP) to undertake service work with communities, often on a scale of $25,000 to just a few hundred dollars. Through CRM, faculty and students in LARP and other affiliated programs have drafted a variety of strategic, subject, and master plans (e.g., open space and recreation plans, downtown urban design, community participation, economic/facility re-use, and sustainability plans). As part of planning or as standalone projects, we coordinate community participation, which fits our commitment to, and skill with, engaging diverse communities, and project management. As with all of our work, as a subdivision of state government municipal procurement from CRM is exempt from MGL Chapter 30B Procurement (Section 1 (3) and 1 (4)). CRM currently offers particular expertise in:
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Applied Research
The Center offers communities the opportunity to tap into world-class research and innovation. Click on the Applied Research tab (above) for details. CRM was established in 1985 as the Center for Rural Massachusetts, to undertake a program of applied research focusing on growth management through actions of local governments and advocacy groups. Measures proposed in Center publications have been studied and adopted throughout the United States and the world. Former associates of the Center (faculty and students) now hold highly significant planning positions and others are writing about ideas initiated at the Center. CRM was at the forefront of developing the concepts of greenways, which has influenced urban planning world-wide. CRM was also at the forefront of conservation subdivision design, which has also influenced rural and small town planning worldwide. The Center can draw upon our colleagues and research partners in its work. Our Research Partners Our colleagues |
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The Center for Resilient Metro-Regions team
Wayne Feiden, FAICP, Director
Center for Resilient Metro-Regions Lecturer of Practice Inquiries, request for proposals wfeiden@umass.edu |
Professor Robert Ryan, Department Head
Landscape Arch. & Regional Planning rlryan@umass.edu |
Professor Elisabeth Infield
Landscape Arch. & Regional Planning Climate change research inquiries eminfield@umass.edu |
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This website was partially supported by USDA HATCH MAS00458 and NSF Research Collaboration Network (RCN): Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) "Sustainable Adaptive Gradients in the Coastal Environment (SAGE): Reconceptualizing the Role of Infrastructure in Resilience" Award Number: ICER-1338767.
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