Category Archives: Uncategorized

Bumjoon Kang, PhD

Bumjoon Kang holds a B.S. and M.S. in architecture (Seoul National University, Korea) and a Ph.D. in urban design and planning (University of Washington).  Starting in Fall 2013, Dr. Kang joins UB’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning and the ‘Food Lab’. Prior to joining the faculty at the University at Buffalo, he was a research associate in the Urban Form Lab at the University of Washington and a planner/researcher at the Seoul Development Institute (Korea, currently the Seoul Institute).

Dr. Kang has research interests in the relationships between built environments and health behaviors and outcomes. His previous/ongoing research topics include physical activity, food environments, time-geography (continuous spatial exposure), spatial statistics, and GIScience (analysis of large spatial data). His recent work on identification of walking was published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise: “Walking Objectively Measured: Classifying Accelerometer Data with GPS and Travel Diaries.”

Dr. Kang can be reached at bumjoonk@buffalo.edu

To see more of Dr. Kang’s work, see his webpage.

 

Erin Sweeney, Master in Urban Planning Student

Erin is iErin Sweeneyn her first year in the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning program at the University of Buffalo. She earned her BA in Community Development from Allegheny College in 2010. Her work prior to joining the Food Lab was focused on rural community development through access to and education around local and affordable food in Northwestern Pennsylvania and Central Maine. She spent the last six years managing an inter-generational community garden, developing regional support for SNAP incentives at farmers markets, and integrating nutrition curriculum into after-school and gifted programs for youth. Her work in the Food Lab is primarily focused on the role of planning in international food systems through UB’s Community of Excellence for Global Health Equity (CGHE). She has lived and worked in Ecuador and Colombia which gives context for her global work with CGHE. 

Communities of Excellence in Global Health Equity

Dr. Samina Raja, Principal Investigator of the Food Lab, is a part of University of Buffalo’s new Community of Excellence focusing on Global Health Equity.  This project will combine the strength of many disciplines to address the challenges of sanitation, food access, child mortality, refugee health and more both in other countries and here at home in Buffalo, NY.  Learn more about the project from the video below.

Active Commuting in the Sweet Home Central School District

SHS_SRTS_logoSafe Routes to Schools programs seek to foster improvements that facilitate active commuting in five thematic areas: education, encouragement, engineering, enforcement, and evaluation. The Town of Amherst, New York is the lead sponsor of a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program that builds off a successful 2008 SRTS program in the Williamsville Central School District. This project, funded through the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, facilitates infrastructure and non-infrastructure improvements to increase active commuting to schools in the Amherst Central and Sweet Home Central school districts.

The Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab is actively involved in the education, encouragement, and evaluation components of this program in the Sweet Home Central School District and the Amherst Central School District through events such as Walk to School Day and other active commuting events. The Town of Amherst Engineering Department is our partner in engineering, and the Town of Amherst Police Department is our partner in enforcement.

Team Members: Samina Raja, Sora Baek, Bumjoon Kang, Jeanne Leccese, Elizabeth Machnica

Resources

The Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab has developed a number of resources in partnership with the Sweet Home Central School District and the Town of Amherst. These resources include maps for each district elementary school that indicate safe walking and bicycling routes to school and infographics with useful information and facts about walking and bicycling for parents, students and school administrators. In addition, we have published the results of a survey of parents from the Sweet Home Central School District. These resources can be found below.

APA Planners Training Service Announces Workshops

The American Planning Association’s Planners Training Service (PTS) will be offering three new workshops on current topics in planning during their November event in Washington, DC.  Workshops will run from November 10-15 and will focus on Community Food Systems Planning, Transportation Innovations in Biking and Parking, and Suburban Redevelopment.  Dr. Samina Raja, of the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab, will be presenting with Kara Martin, AICP, on advanced planning and policy techniques for launching and strengthening food systems.  The two day workshop earns AICP members 14 credits and will focus on using community food systems planning  to promote pubic health, economic development, and quality of life.

 

Walk to School Day in Sweet Home School District

The Safe Routes to School Project, coordinated by Travis Norton of the UB Food Lab, recently launched a successful Walk to School Day in Sweet Home School District.  Part of a larger national campaign to improve infrastructure around schools to encourage students to walk and bike to school, the event took place at several elementary schools in Amherst on October 8th.  Read more about the event featured in the Buffalo News.

Two Food Lab Papers Published

The Food Lab is pleased to announce two members of the lab were published this fall.

Dr. Samina Raja’s paper, “Rustbelt Radicalism: A Decade of Food Systems Planning Practice in Buffalo, New York” has been published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

Dr. Solhyon Baek’s paper, “Park Design and Children’s Active Play : A Micro-Scale Spatial Analysis of Intensity of Play in Olmsted’s Delaware Park” was published in Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design.

We congratulate both researchers and encourage you to read and share the articles.

Travis Norton Honored with Two Awards at MUP Graduation

Travis Norton, a Research Project Coordinator in the Food Lab, was awarded both the AICP Outstanding Student Award and the Academic Excellence Award.  The American Institute of Certified Planners recognized Travis for his high promise for professional excellence.  In addition, Travis also received the Academic Excellence Award from the University of Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning for having the highest GPA in the program.

Travis has focused his work around transportation issues in planning.  He is interested in the linkages between the built environment and human behavior, including the connections between transportation systems, health, and sustainability.  Travis is currently managing the Safe Routes to School Program in conjunction with Sweet Home Central School District