Reimagine Downtown Shawnee
Students worked to conduct building inventories, public meetings, and stakeholder interviews resulting in a plan for downtown Shawnee.
Shawnee, Oklahoma – Fall 2012
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The IQC partnered with OU Regional & City Planning to manage the 2012 Comprehensive Planning Studio. The Shawnee Chamber of Commerce worked with the IQC to set the guidelines for a downtown revitalization plan. A team of thirteen planning and landscape architecture students worked to conduct building inventories, public meetings, and stakeholder interviews. A 10-member steering committee consisted of local leaders from the city government, school district, tribes, and business community. With a history of planning efforts that have fizzled, Shawnee wanted a plan that would be straightforward and attainable. The students designed the plan with a series of “stepping stones” as action items. Stepping stones offered short-term rewards as well as long-term projects to make the changes sustainable. The plan document also included “Success Stories” – short examples of simple strategies that have been used in similar communities. Most Success Stories in the plan are from Oklahoma towns.
Just two months after the final plan was presented to Shawnee, one stepping stone was already underway. Edmond-based Pelco Products worked with the IQC to donate Shawnee’s first pedestrian wayfinding sign, pointing the way to various attractions downtown.
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