Wilder Graduate Scholars Fellow Emma Tilley took home the Plan Off! prize, while the Best Plan Award went to Becky Skatoff
How would you design a neighborhood to prioritize senior accessibility? How would you reinvent Virginia’s solar panel plan? What paths would you take to find new ways to preserve historical sites?
Students in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program, tasked with questions like these, set out to find answers. Through diligent research and planning, they consulted to develop practical solutions with real-world impacts. The culmination of their efforts condensed months of careful studies and preparation into a brief, general audience presentation during the annual Wilder School Plan-Off competition.
Competitors had five minutes to present their plan to their peers along with judges Andy Gillies, AICP, planning director of Chesterfield County; Michael Smart, sustainability engagement coordinator for the City of Richmond; and Jim Zook (‘75 MURP), FAICP, AICP, and retired former director of planning and zoning for Fairfax County.
View the 2025 Plan-Off photo album
For the second time, the competition was hosted at the PlanRVA office. Plan-Off first began in 2012 thanks to the efforts of Professor John Accordino.
While judges deliberated between presentations, assistant professor Shruti Syal told AI-generated urban planning-related jokes, which elicited both laughs and groans from the audience.
The Grand Champion Award for top presentation ultimately went to Emma Tilley for her presentation “Senior Living Guide: Strategies for Aging in Place in Chesterfield County.”
“By offering actionable recommendations across housing, transportation, and urban design, the guide serves as a roadmap for creating a community where older adults can comfortably and safely age in place,” said Tilley, also a Wilder Graduate Scholars Fellow, on ways urban planning can help older adults live independently in their homes and neighborhoods.
“My goal in developing this plan was to raise awareness about the challenges faced by older residents and highlight the current lack of physical accessibility, affordability, and access to resources for those aging in place.”
– Emma Tilley
“It was an honor to be recognized for my work and to highlight the importance of this issue,” Tilley added.
The Best Plan Award, which considers a student’s entire written plan, went to Becky Skatoff for her presentation “Navigating Preservation and Memorialization in Contested Spaces: A Study of the Richmond Community Hospital and the Legacy of Sarah Garland Boyd Jones.” Skatoff presented an approach to streamline the historical preservation process, with a priority to preserve important Black cultural identity spaces.
For Skatoff, winning Best Plan is a crowning achievement for an unconventional path to her master’s degree.
“Coming back to school at this stage, there has been so much to learn and adapt to in such a short period of time. However, I am exceedingly grateful for the faculty in the MURP program."
– Becky Skatoff
"From before I started the program to this very moment, they have been encouraging and guiding me. None of this would’ve been possible without them!” Skatoff shared.
The topic of preservation is one Skatoff greatly values as well.
“It means guidance from the past for the future. When advocates educated the public with the accurate historical record of the Richmond Community Hospital, the public responded with support for preservation. This is a model that can and should be repeated just with collaborative efforts for that education happening before another Black heritage site is threatened with demolition.”
“The Plan-Off Competition is a powerful example of the Wilder School’s dedication to public service and real-world problem solving," said Susan T. Gooden, dean of the Wilder School. "It highlights the talent and innovation of our Master of Urban and Regional Planning students as they develop and present bold solutions to pressing societal challenges. Congratulations to Emma Tilley, our 2025 Plan-Off Champion, and to all of this year’s participants for their outstanding contributions to building stronger, more resilient communities.”
