In July of 2020, PBR Hawaii and Associates, a Hawaii-based firm, celebrated 50 years of providing professional services to governmental agencies, landowners, developers, community groups, and non-profit organizations in the state of Hawaii. Founded by William Frank Brent, we are a multi-disciplinary firm with a staff of roughly 40 individuals actively involved in land planning, urban design, environmental studies, entitlements, community engagement, landscape architecture, and graphic design.

As one of our core values, we seek to incorporate place-based culturally appropriate sustainable design solutions throughout our practice. We are committed to providing clients with exceptional quality and value and creating innovative and creative solutions in the design of our island communities.

To commemorate our 50th anniversary, PBR Hawaii established a $50,000 endowed scholarship fund at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP). Contributors to the scholarship include Vincent Shigekuni, Grant Murakami, Kimmi Yuen, Tom Schnell, Stan Duncan, Russell Chung, DaCheng Dong, Natalie Razo, Etsuyo Kila, Selena Pang, and Greg Nakai.

We established this scholarship for the following reasons:

• First, we wanted to recognize DURP for 50 years of excellence in planning education. Its contribution to training planners has been felt throughout our planning community, the state of Hawaii, and around the world. DURP has served as the training ground for a number of leaders in our planning community, a number of whom have made significant contributions in shaping our island communities through land use planning, policy planning, cultural and sustainable design practices, and community-based planning and engagement.
• Secondly, while terms like sustainable design, equitable and livable communities are commonplace today, DURP has always been on the leading edge of promoting these ideas and concepts from the very early days of the programmed establishment. They have always been and continue to be a champion for creating sustainable equitable and livable places for all of our residents and we commend them for their efforts.
• Lastly, our scholarship was established to express our gratitude for our long-standing relationship with DURP. A majority of our planners attended or are graduates of DURP. In addition, our staff has served as lecturers and has collaborated with faculty and staff on curriculum, re-accreditation, and on planning issues throughout the state. Put simply, the planning team of PBR Hawaii would not be as successful as we are today without our long-standing relationship with DURP.

For these reasons, PBR Hawaii is proud to establish as part of our 50th anniversary, an endowed scholarship at DURP. We look forward to the contributions that the scholarship recipients will make to our planning community.

Congratulations to DURP on the past 50 years. Cheers to the next 50.