New summary report released: Resource Guide to Support Aging in Place

As one of the fastest growing communities in Arizona, Peoria’s population continues to age, creating a need for the City to further develop its resources available for its population of older adults to ensure the well-being and active participation of all members of the community.

The Town of Miami is a historic community with a rich history in copper mining. Incorporated in 1918, the Town established itself as a copper boom town while blending a new wave of business, arts, and tourism.

Since its start in 2017, Project Cities has partnered with four local communities, engaged 38 interdisciplinary faculty members, and facilitated over 75 high-impact projects with over 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students. As we look back on a transformative five years and celebrate our recent President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness, Project Cities is excited to announce the release of its first Impact Report.

ASU Project Cities has been awarded the President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness, a university-wide initiative to recognize the work of ASU faculty, staff, and programs for their work in social embeddedness. As part of ASU’s charter and design aspirations, social embeddedness encompasses the university’s commitment to serving its surrounding communities by sharing its resources and knowledge networks through mutually beneficial community partnerships.

Community engagement is a critical component of ensuring that a community has input and is receiving information from its local government. Cities have used a variety of engagement strategies to gather feedback on its services, as well as inform future planning.

The City of Peoria recently approved its Sustainable Peoria Plan, a roadmap for sustainability that outlines goals and initiatives around its eight pillars of sustainability. 

In a growing community, water is a valuable resource for the City of Peoria. The City is guided by its general planning document, PlanPeoriaAZ 2040, which outlines the City's commitment to ensuring the best quality of living for Peoria residents through the Livability Initiatives.

To highlight some of Project Cities star students and faculty, PC staff sat down to interview Hunter Hedelius, an undergraduate student in the School of Social Transformation. During the spring 2022 semester, Hunter worked on a project with City of Peoria as part of Greg Broberg’s JUS 301 Research Methods course.

 Dr. Stephen Carradini recently highlighted his work with Project Cities in a new journal article, “Civic social media: A detailed case for classroom use.” Dr. Carradini has taught at ASU in the College of Integrative Science and Arts technical communication program for the past five years. His own research interests include studying emerging technologies in professional spaces, such as the use of Kickstarter campaigns. 

ASU's Full Circle, a publication focusing on news from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, recently highlighted one of our star faculty members, Al Brown!

On September 22, 2022, students from 3 classes traveled to the Town of Clarkdale for the first in-person visit in two years. Joined by Clarkdale leadership and staff, students met with Town Manager Susan Guthrie, Community Development Director Ruth Mayday, and Mayor  Robyn Prud'homme-Bauer to brainstorm for their projects. 

On September 14, 2022, ASU Project Cities hosted its first in-person kick-off event since the start of COVID. Over 50 undergraduate and graduate students from 5 Peoria projects joined their project leads and Peoria executive leadership to learn more about the community they are working with this semester and plan for the coming semester.