Communities Rebecca Augur '99
Planning for better land use in Connecticut
Connecticut may seem a long way from Benin, West Africa, but Rebecca saw similar challenges in land use. Her interdisciplinary study of agricultural practices in West Africa, including a case study on Benin based on her research there, helped prepare her for a rewarding career in land-use planning.
“Marlboro encouraged me to find ways to pursue disparate interests through multidisciplinary studies, which I’m still doing through land-use planning,” says Rebecca. “It also fostered my independence and capacity for self-direction and motivation, which helped me a great deal in graduate school.”
Rebecca first became interested in local planning issues while conducting research for cities and towns with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. “How and why land is used as it is, and the competing interests at play in land-use decisions, are fascinating subjects that touch upon the varied interests I had pursued at Marlboro - social, political, environmental,” she says.
Rebecca got her master’s in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2005, and a planning certification in 2007. Along the way she worked as a regional planner in Hartford, leading an award-winning project for farm-friendly zoning regulation, among other things. She finally moved to planning and zoning at the municipal level, where her efforts can have more legal authority. “Making the jump to local-level planning also gives me the opportunity to expand my skills, which is always a good thing,” says Rebecca.