For a town of its size, Webster City (pop. 7,877) offers a great deal of open space and outdoor recreational opportunities. The communityâ€s parks and recreation system includes eight quality parks, bicycle & walking trails, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and several access points to the popular Boone River.

The significance of the river is evident in Webster City. Providing opportunities for hiking, fishing, canoeing and kayaking, the river is one of the communityâ€s most beloved amenities.

However, city officials recognized the need to reimagine, update, and improve the park system in order to best serve residents and visitors, particularly as they expect to see a considerable increase in population due to a new large employer in the area. Several new amenities have been previously explored by the city, including whitewater kayaking on the Boone River, a splash pad in East Twin Park, new trail development and connectivity, and camping facilities (namely, rental yurts) in Kendall Young Park, and a new disc golf course.

Webster City parks serve other purposes in addition to recreation. For example, Riverside Park has a newly constructed wetland for stormwater management, and city officials are considering housing development for Hospital Hill, a large greenspace in the center of town. The planning team considered a variety of uses for parks and open space in the context of other broad community objectives, such as downtown development, stormwater management, water quality, and housing. Additional focus areas included financing and funding sources, maintenance, design, education, ecology, marketing, and environmental impact.

The planning process included the collection and analysis of available relevant information, data analysis which determined inventory and condition of current facilities, determination of supply and demand within the community; and recommendations for meeting the needs of the community through an analysis of improved programs and facilities. Public input was essential to development of the plan. The process included interviews, focus groups, public forums, and a survey of residents.

The City of Clinton was settled as a lumber community and grew into a thriving manufacturing center. Jobs after high school were easy to obtain with competitive wages and benefits package. Over the past few decades, Clinton has experienced a hollowing out of the downtown, a decrease in the livability from wages at manufacturing jobs, and an overall population decline. A Des Moines register article in March 2017 put a spotlight on the economic challenges facing the City of Clinton and other micropolitan areas throughout the state. The article describes a drastically changing economic landscape in Clinton, where the manufacturing sector has declined as the primary economic engine, followed by dwindling job opportunities, working-age residents, retail activity, and social capital. Recent economic trends are compelling community leaders to evaluate new directions for the community and shift the emphasis away from industrial business recruitment. STEM initiatives, entrepreneurial development, tourism, and quality of life strategies are mentioned as opportunities to build and retain a skilled workforce for a new economy.

An economic development plan provides a comprehensive overview of the economy, sets policy direction for economic growth, and identifies strategies, programs, and projects to improve the economy.

The plan developed by the graduate students serves as a foundation for economic development of the Clinton Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is the whole of Clinton County, with emphasis on the city of Clinton, Iowa. The plan approaches economic development through supporting area businesses and workers, while simultaneously enhancing quality of life for residents. This approach requires the plan to capitalize on Clintonâ€s assets and simultaneously overcome its weaknesses. In doing so, the plan identifies courses of action to provide greater opportunity and thereby prosperity, which are the ultimate goals of economic development initiatives.

The plan provides a set of economic development goals tailored to the future needs of Clinton. Strategies and action items to guide progress accompany each goal, and each action item is assigned to specific organizations to oversee implementation. Performance metrics are also included to measure progress towards the goals.

In Spring 2018, the University of Iowa School of Urban and Regional Planning, in cooperation with the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities, offered its second Iowa Community Storytelling Project. The purpose of the Iowa Community Storytelling Project is to use the humanities and the arts, specifically storytelling and videography, to create stories about a specific place in Iowa.  The project was support by the University of Iowa’s Iowa Digital Engagement and Learning (IDEAL) Initiative.

The Mississippi River Region in eastern Iowa, which consists of Jones, Jackson, and Dubuque counties, features the heritage of Grant Wood as well as a picturesque, hilly terrain whose bluffs meet the Mississippi River.  The Region is dotted with small towns that are complemented by the Dubuque metropolitan area.   

The overall goal was to use these stories to portray to both residents and the broader public the richness of the Region, not only as a place to visit, but also as a place to live.   Graduate and advanced undergraduates in urban planning, the social sciences, the humanities, the arts, public health, and education were invited to join the class.  The starting point for these stories was the “experiencesâ€� conveyed by the Regionâ€s Grant Wood Loop website. Teams of students worked with the instructor and with the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities to produce professional quality films as well as to gain a greater appreciation for the challenges and opportunities faced by Upper Midwest communities and regions in Iowa.  “Traveloguesâ€� such as this will help both residents and visitors to develop a sense of place within the Grant Woodâ€�Mississippi River Region which will inform planning for that region and its communities.   

Each group of students in the class used the Grant Wood Loop website to develop a route or transect through the Region that enabled the group to sample a portion of the region.  Students then took the opportunity to film the route, visit places featured on the Grant Wood Loop website, and talk to people who live or work in the Grant Wood Mississippi Region. The results are the three short videos, each of which tells a story about the Grant Wood Mississippi River Region.