2025 - 2026

Maryland has committed to rapidly expanding the production of renewable energy – including solar – while also maintaining strong commitments to land conservation and farmland preservation. While these priorities are not inherently incompatible, they do create practical questions about where renewable energy infrastructure should be located, how agricultural land should be protected, and whether new models of shared land use can help reduce conflict.

2026

Following a successful partnership with the 2025 workshop, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) Department of Sustainability and Resilience (DSR) partnered with EFC to design and deliver PGCPS’s 3rd Annual Sustainability and Climate Leadership Summit at the Patuxent Research Refuge’s National Wildlife Visitor Center in Laurel, MD.

2026

EFC, in partnership with Blue Strike Environmental, is supporting the development of the City of Gaithersburg’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). The CAP will establish a comprehensive, data-driven roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance climate resilience, and advance equitable sustainability strategies aligned with Maryland’s climate goals and regional best practices. EFC is serving as a local technical advisor and community engagement partner, providing:

2026 - Present

EFC continued work with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) to strengthen interdisciplinary research on the economic benefits of nature-based solutions and landscape architecture.

2026 - Present

Watershed restoration in the Chesapeake Bay region has made important gains—such as sediment reduction, oyster restoration, and fish passage—but meeting nutrient reduction and water quality improvement goals remains a persistent challenge. Rising project costs, complex regulatory requirements, and a fragmented funding landscape continue to limit many communities’ ability to plan, fund, and deliver restoration work.

Thu, 07/02/2026 - 12:00

A Fall 2024 urban planning studio that offered local stakeholders in Langley Park, Md., a roadmap for enhancing economic, social and environmental sustainability was honored last month with an Excellence in Sustainability Award from the American Planning Association. “Equitable Development for Langley Park, Md.” was one of just six projects nationally awarded this year, recognized alongside a heritage trail plan in Chicago, climate planning guidance in Olympia, Wa., and others. 

Thu, 07/02/2026 - 12:00

For most U.S. cities, a public school is as multifunctional as a Swiss Army knife. Beyond a place for learning history and algebra, schools often double as disaster shelters, host community meetings, serve as neighborhood parks and polling sites, and even house food pantries. Yet since 2000, thousands of public schools have been closed across the country, falling victim to aging buildings, the rise of charter schools, shrinking budgets and plunging birth rates. 

2026

Delaware’s ocean and bay waters have competing uses that increase the urgency for marine spatial planning that incorporates data in decision making. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) is developing a Delaware Ocean and Bay Plan to guide resource use, management, and conservation of marine waters off Delaware’s coast.

Fri, 06/26/2026 - 12:00

Dr. Dawn Jourdan, an expert in the legal aspects of land use, affordable housing, preservation and aesthetics regulations, has been reappointed for a second five-year term as dean of the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.