This paper presents a graduate-level landscape architecture studio project that exemplifies the integration of experiential and project-based learning in a real-world regional design context. Conducted in collaboration with the Columbus & Greenville Rail Coalition, students developed conceptual planning and design proposals for a proposed 92-mile rails-to-trails corridor between Greenwood and West Point, Mississippi—the longest such project proposed in the state.

While public engagement was limited at the client’s request due to ongoing political sensitivities, the project immersed students in advanced design methodologies, multi-scalar mapping, and regional analysis to develop framework plans, design interventions, and site-specific strategies across ten municipalities and multiple ecological zones. The course required students to apply spatial and environmental analysis using GIS, develop interpretive and regulatory signage, design context-sensitive trailheads and crossings, and explore trail typologies across urban, agricultural, and natural ecotypes.

The student work is currently being used by project stakeholders to strengthen federal grant applications and will serve as a communication tool in future public engagement efforts. This partnership demonstrates the pedagogical value of embedding academic design studios in active planning initiatives, even amid real-world constraints. The outcomes reinforce that client-engaged studios can provide meaningful contributions to infrastructure planning while significantly enhancing student learning by addressing authentic problems of connectivity, equity, and place-based design.

This case study contributes to the broader discourse on experiential learning in landscape architecture and allied disciplines, highlighting how interdisciplinary collaboration, regional thinking, and student-led research can shape both pedagogy and practice.

Keywords: Experiential learning, project-based learning, landscape architecture, rails-to-trails, regional planning, community design, GIS.