Closely cropped view of people's hands pointing to a drawing with post-it notes and markers

Community Partners

The community as the client.

The Conway School’s graduate students conduct projects for a variety of client types. Engaging the community is at the heart of Conway’s winter planning and spring design projects, where past projects have supported:

  • Environmental & agricultural organizations
  • Academic institutions & educational centers
  • Retreat centers & recreational organizations
  • Cultural organizations & museums
  • Municipal committees and boards
  • Regional planning agencies
  • State agencies
  • Tribes
  • Homeowner’s associations
  • Friends groups
  • Community-minded businesses

Can a private homeowner be a client?

Yes. While some small-scale design projects are conducted for community partners (libraries, small schools, etc), small-scale site design projects are often conducted for private homeowners within a 30-mile radius of campus.

Learn more about small-scale design projects here

Support for community champions across various disciplines & geographies

Just as the climate crisis affects countless facets of life, the Conway School’s cross-disciplinary approach provides guidance to clients who champion a variety of causes.

Promoting environmental resilience…

  • Land and biodiversity conservation
  • Water quality and conservation
  • Agricultural resilience
  • Heat island mitigation
  • Stormwater management
  • Supporting pollinators

Expanding recreational & transportation opportunities…

  • Long-distance trails and connectivity
  • Multi-use paths, hiking trails, and cycling
  • Public transit and equity in access
  • Safety and accessibility for all persons

Promoting community resilience & equity…

  • Food security
  • Access for all persons
  • Housing
  • Transportation
  • Inter-generational connections
  • Education and the arts
  • Connectivity to social & health resources

The Conway School works with clients on community projects across New England, throughout rural, suburban, and urban settings.

What types of community projects does the Conway School conduct?

To support the academic goals of the Conway School, community projects are typically either broad scale community & ecological planning projects or large-scale site design projects.

Learn more about project scope and themes

A legacy of partnership 

Since 1972, the Conway School has been trusted by over 450 community clients to be a partner in their ecological design and community planning; numerous clients choose to work with us again and again to support their work.

The presentations and final deliverables that this Conway student team delivered to us were honestly of higher quality than some work we receive from consultants…. We hope to take this work and run with it in the years and decades ahead.
Planning Department; City of Providence, RI; 2025 Client
…the Conway School design gives us a really wonderful high-level vision for what the space could become, and where we might be able to make some of the infrastructure changes as well as site improvements. These are the possibilities that I think our student team so wonderfully offered for us to consider.
Uli Lorimer; Native Plant Trust; 2025 Client
The City’s partnership with the Conway School of Landscape Design was essential in transforming the visions for two parks into achievable projects. Through close collaboration, Conway students worked alongside City staff to develop forward‑thinking concepts that reimagine these spaces as multi‑use, inclusive environments … Their designs emphasized stormwater management, habitat improvement, and community gathering spaces, aligning seamlessly with Keene’s broader sustainability and livability goals. This collaborative effort produced innovative, cost‑effective planning tools that directly guided future investment and phased implementation. Ultimately, it was the strength of this partnership that helped turn both projects from vision into reality.
Andrew Bohannon; City of Keene, NH; 2014, 2015, & 2020 Client