Downtown Muskogee: A Landscape of Hope
Symbolic Sequence of Planning Process We call this planning effort Downtown Muskogee: A Landscape of Hope. What is a hopeful city? How is hopefulness of a people related to the growth of a town? Can we make a plan based on hope? Collective hope is not the same as...
Environmental Design Students Study Bricktown Public Life
One of the key sources of data for understanding city life is traffic count information. Cities collect detailed information about the number of cars that travel down major streets each day. However, cities rarely collect similar information about people walking or...
The Art of Crossing the Street
Some of our favorite public art projects have turned the everyday act of crossing the street into something more fun. We shared the idea of colorful crosswalks when we visited Tahlequah last fall. Here are some artistic ways to cross the street around the world....
2015 Oklahoma Population Estimates
The Census Bureau recently released the newest population estimates for Oklahoma. These yearly estimates are used in allocating federal funds and resources. On July 1st, 2015, the state’s population was estimated to be 3,911,338, which is a gain of about 160,000...
Oklahoma Creative Communities
The Oklahoma Creative Communities project is a new initiative by Creative Oklahoma. 8 communities have been selected to participate in the project which will foster solutions to local problems that enhance creativity and quality of life. The project began March 18-19...
Sundial House Project
Students in the Historic Preservation Planning and Historic Buildings of Oklahoma course, led by Professor Ron Frantz, spent the Fall 2015 semester working on a project for the Sundial House in Northeast Oklahoma City. The course is part of the core curriculum for the...
Memories of Boley
Boley is a town with an amazing history as a thriving all-black community in Oklahoma, now known best for its annual Boley Rodeo. We visited last spring to meet with community members and help generate some ideas for community projects. We were struck by the vibrant...
Environmental Design Course Will Assist Recreation Area
Students in the Environmental Design Capstone Course recently toured the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, the site of their spring 2016 project. The group is working with park staff Ken Ruhnke, Bill Wright, and Larry Bell to improve amenities for visitors to this...
Bricktown Accessibility Review: Day 3
After site tours, discussions, and brainstorming on Day 1 and Day 2, the IQC team was ready to finalize graphics and explain concepts for a presentation to stakeholders this afternoon. Ron Frantz began the presentation with an extreme example of the two-level...
Bricktown Accessibility Review: Day 2
After collecting information and talking to Bricktown experts on Day 1, the IQC team got to work brainstorming ideas to increase access in Bricktown. We spent the morning defining important areas to focus on for a closer look, and thinking about how they could...
Bricktown Accessibility Review: Day 1
Working in collaboration with Downtown OKC, Inc., the IQC team has begun a project in Oklahoma City's Bricktown to examine accessibility and walkability around the district's signature canal. The Bricktown Canal presents unique challenges for accessibility. The canal...
Students Tour Automobile Alley, Art Exhibition
Students in the Historic Buildings of Oklahoma course (Division of Architecture) and the Historic Preservation Planning course (Environmental Design program) took a walking tour of Automobile Alley in downtown Oklahoma City on Monday, November 2. After starting the...