Bloustein School graduate students (l-r) Zachary Soricelli, Andrew Zuppardi, and Abdul Kalam Mustaq present Advance Climate Resilience Through Municipal Land Use Planning Graduate Studio at 2026 Bloustein Studio Day.
A Bloustein School spring 2026 graduate studio report, Advancing Climate Resilience Through Municipal Land Use Planning, is the recipient of a 2026 New Jersey Planning Officials Achievement in Planning Award.
Led by Bloustein Senior Policy Fellow Jeanne Herb, the studio provided graduate students with a real-world opportunity to apply climate change hazard assessment to municipal master planning.
Graduate students in the studio included Joseph Brosnan, Joseph Cuomo, Joshua Darragh, Hailie Kovitch, Joseph Marra, Jake Martinez, Abdul Kalam Mustaq, Adrian Ponichtera, Samruddhi Purohit, Tiara Sari, Stephanie Sharo, Zachary Soricelli, Kazi Tasnim Tanzeen, Shaniya Utamidata, and Andrew Zuppardi.
Over the past year, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) engaged the Bloustein School’s Center for Urban Policy Research (CUPR) and the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center (NJCCRC) to provide technical assistance to develop Climate Change Related Hazard Vulnerability Assessments (CCRHVAs) for eight New Jersey municipalities, focusing on assessment of current and future vulnerabilities from climate-related hazards.
Graduate students worked in teams to complete the CCRHVAs with participating municipalities in a professional, client-based relationship. Each team developed vulnerability assessments to assess the implications of climate-related hazards on other elements of each participating municipalities’ Master Plan, such as transportation, housing, open space, etc. They also examined how the hazard assessment findings may be connected to other municipal plans, such as those related to solid waste management, smart growth and development, health, hazard mitigation, stormwater and wastewater management, and more.
The studio class worked cooperatively with three municipal clients: Maurice River Township (Cumberland County), Pennsville (Salem County), and Rutherford (Bergen County).
The final studio report is part of the larger final deliverable that CUPR will deliver to the NJDEP later this year as part of their Resilient NJ Municipal Assistance Program.
The award will be presented at the NJPO Achievements in Planning Awards Celebration on Friday, October 2. More information.