PITTSBURGH — Stuckeman School Landscape architecture student Sandor Strnisa said his experience working with the Hilltop community of Pittsburgh — located between Mt Washington, Southside Slopes and Carrick — enabled him to interact with residents and city planners, giving him new purpose on his chosen career path.
Strnisa and 14 other landscape architecture students are working on a series of projects aimed at mitigating urban vacancy and improving the quality of life for residents in Pittsburgh’s Hilltop neighborhoods. The opportunity for the hands-on community experience is made possible through Pittsburgh Studio, a collaboration between the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture and the Franco Harris Pittsburgh Center. More than 170 students have participated in Pittsburgh Studio since its inception in 2008.
Strnisa said his team discovered a need to improve accessibility and proposed a 10-year plan to implement vibrant event spaces, bus shelters and routes that would connect Hilltop to current and future destinations.
The experience, he said, broadened his view on what it means to be a landscape architect.
“Because of Pittsburgh Studio, I have clear aspirations to work alongside underserved communities, whether work is done through city-level planning or local projects,” he said. “I now realize the sheer scope and significance of our work. Our designed spaces have the potential to reshape and improve entire systems at a widespread scale.”
For spring 2025, students met with Pittsburgh City Planning, Hilltop Alliance — an organization aimed at preserving and creating assets in the Hilltop community though collaboration and coordination of resources — community development corporations, nonprofit organizations and neighborhood residents to research ways they could assist with bringing community needs to fruition.
The course is offered to students as an opportunity to expose them to the strategic planning process as part of their curriculum, according to Sara Hadavi, course instructor and assistant professor of landscape architecture.
“Students learn about interdisciplinary work with urban planners and explore the role of landscape architects in teams that develop master plans for cities,” Hadavi said. “They gain confidence in interdisciplinary planning collaboration, practice in communication with planners, policymakers, community members and learn to translate their wants and needs into applicable planning and design solutions while preparing professional reports.”
Lansdscape Architecture student Zachary Calkins’ team designed a 10-year plan to improve biking accessibility for Hilltop and offer opportunities for recycling, education and additional green space. He said meetings with Hilltop Alliance and Pittsburgh City Planning helped guide his class by pointing out which planning methods were effective and which needed improvement, giving them a clearer picture of the real-world factors to consider in their designs.
“We visited Hilltop neighborhoods to get a feel for the area and connect with community members. It was an eye-opening experience that helped us better understand how people live, what resources they have and what they still need,” Calkins said. “These conversations showed me how local perspectives can directly inform design decisions and lead to more impactful, community-centered solutions.”
David Himes, sustainable communities manager for the Franco Harris Pittsburgh Center, said his work involves building networks between southwestern Pennsylvania communities and Penn State to facilitate the proper connection with faculty and student expertise. Programs such as Pittsburgh Studio give him the opportunity to assist with further elevating the quality of research for the University and experiential learning for students, while delivering real benefits to the people being engaged with.
“Tom Bartnik, director for the Franco Harris Pittsburgh Center, and I both have backgrounds in urban planning and landscape architecture, which elevates partnerships with the Stuckeman School and the Department of Landscape Architecture,” Himes said. “With experience in design and implementation, we can provide critical evaluation of students’ work, help to elevate the discussions around conceptualization and development, and connect them to the right resources and practitioners for the programming that emerges in their project designs.”
At the end of the course experience, students presented their work to community stakeholders. Thomas Scharff, neighborhood planner for Pittsburgh City Planning, said he has been positively impacted by the way students have thoughtfully listened and taken to heart the comments from community members who came out to their engagement activities.
“They’ve showed a nuanced awareness of multiple interconnected public policy issues affecting communities, such as the way public health, food access, vacant lots, public transit and ‘third spaces’ are interrelated. The students’ community engagement and analysis has helped to highlight these and other key issues that should inform future Pittsburgh planning initiatives, including the ongoing Citywide Comprehensive Plan,” Scharff said. “We’re confident the students’ work products will serve community groups and be ideas that could influence future planning, whether as project blueprints, or alternatively, as seeds of ideas that could be adapted over time in further discussions with the community, and as resources allow.”
Bill Shimko, executive director for Hilltop Alliance, said the projects provide more touchpoints for his organization to better understand the desires of residents and their neighborhoods.
“This partnership offered a wonderful opportunity to familiarize residents with the language and processes of design and planning, which will allow them to be more comfortable sharing their opinions and hopes in the future,” he said.
Calkins said meeting with planners and community members gave him practical experience in engaging with clients and understanding how much value community voices can bring to a project.
“This experience has opened my eyes to the unique dynamics within every community and how crucial it is to identify key points of analysis when working toward impactful design solutions,” Calkins said. “I’ve learned that the most effective insights often come from those who live in the spaces we’re designing for.”