Regional Landscape Analysis & Planning

It is not often that a new city is created in Utah. Even less often is a town created in a more dynamic region than San Juan County. San Juan County is located in the Southeastern corner of Utah and is home to the newly established Bears Ears National Monument. This quiet, remote, rural area is experiencing expansive growth in tourism as attention from the public lands debate has placed a spotlight on this once relatively unknown region. In the fall of 2018 the City of Bluff was incorporated and became Utah’s newest city. The new city of Bluff was born into a region with cultural, ecological, economic, and political dynamics that exert tremendous pressures, and present unique opportunities for this new town.

Leaders from the town of Bluff approached LAEP Extension in the fall of 2018 looking for assistance in identifying regional pressures and planning for the community’s future. This effort evolved into students in the LAEP 6100 Regional Analysis and Planning studio, led by Extension Specialist Jake Powell, working with the city of Bluff to analyze the surrounding Southern San Juan County, Utah region to identify regional challenges that are impacting the city of Bluff, and identify and plan opportunities for the area’s future. The class built upon a Southeast Utah Corridor plan completed by USU LAEP Extension and a previous LAEP 6100 course taught in the spring of 2013. Students traveled to Bluff to conduct a site visit, host a community workshop, meet and gather insights from the new city council and planning commission, and experience the stunning physical and cultural landscapes of Southern San Juan County. The nine MLA graduate students in the course started by analyzing the biophysical and social landscapes of the region using GIS data, survey information, personal interviews, and open access data. Based on the findings from the analysis, the class then selected a suite of design and planning interventions to propose to the town of Bluff. The students work identified the regional scale physical and social influences on the town of Bluff and established a vision that encourages Bluff to embrace its unique identity.

This course was a partnership between the town of Bluff, the LAEP Department, LAEP Extension, and DesignBuildBLUFF.