Department of Urban Planning—University of Kansas

This fall semester, Professor Kirk McClure will be on sab-batical in Washington, DC, doing research with the De-partment of Housing and Urban Development. It is a well deserved opportunity for him.

Planner Professor Bonnie Johnson was in charge of creating this new format to the Jayhawk Planner, and I want to thank her for doing a great job.

- Jim Mayo, Chair

This past year has been pro-ductive for the Department. The foremost improvement is that this fall we will have a new faculty member, Associ-ate Professor Anne Dunning, to take over the leadership responsibilities for transpor-tation planning. Marcy Smalley has served in that capacity for the past two years, and she has done a wonderful job. She will con-tinue to teach for us.

The new planning lab has proven to be a significant addition to student life and a nice spot for our reception after graduation this year.

During this past spring, fac-ulty members in the School passed new bylaws. The De-partment of Urban Planning is now on an equal footing with the other departments in numerous areas of govern-ance. Also, budget planning will be a more open process in which new procurements will be done in a manner similar to preparing a city’s capital improvements pro-gram. There was a slight in-crease in enrollment this past year, and our first-year stu-dents have proven them-selves to be worthy of past entering classes.

View from the Chair—Productive Change

Transportation Professor Hired!

Anne E. Dunning will start as our new transportation professor in the Fall 2011 semester. She comes to us from her time as Associate Professor at Clemson Uni-versity. Prior to Clemson she got her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she also received her Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering and City and Regional Planning. Before Clemson, she was Transpor-tation Scholar at Glacier National Park in Montana.

Students in the Fall can look forward to seeing Prof. Dun-ning teaching the Introduc-tion to Transportation Plan-ning class and a new one entitled “Planning Intercity Transportation Systems.” As can be seen from her background Anne takes an inter-disciplinary approach to transportation, drawing on planning and engineer-ing.

Currently, she is finishing a Federal Highway Admini-stration research project on

reducing energy usage and greenhouse-gas emissions through transportation planning at the megaregion scale. She is starting a re-search project on the im-pacts of trucks on state and local roads and bridges for the South Carolina Depart-ment of Transportation.

Congratulations Class of 2011!

Spotlight on Faculty Publications:

Rethinking Federal Housing Policy by Kirk McClure and John Landis (2010) Journal of the American Planning Associa-tion 76(3):319-348.

Promoting Sustainability through Transportation Infra-structure? Innovation and Iner-tia in the Kansas City Metropoli-tan Area by Bonnie Johnson & Stacey Swearingen White (2010) Journal of Urban Plan-ning and Development 136 (4): 303-313.

Out of the Rubble and Towards a Sustainable Future: The "Greening" of Greensburg, Kansas by Stacey Swearingen White (2010) Sustainability 2(7), 2302-2319.

Commemorating God and Country in American War Me-morials: Symbolic Evolution and Legality by James M. Mayo & Michael H. Hoeflich (2010) Environment and Behavior 42 (3), 303-317.

Art in Transportation: Multimo-dal Overview by Sarah M. L. Hubbard, Marcy Smalley, & Steven Hubbard (2010) Journal of the Transportation Research Board (2144), 168-180.

City Planners and Public Service Motivation by Bonnie John-son (2010) Planning Practice & Research 25 (5), 563-586.

July 2011

The Jayhawk Planner

Ready to Walk Down the Hill

The Sorting Hat Has Spoken:

At the request of the Jayhawk Planner, Professor Dunning took the Hogwarts’ quiz & was sorted into Ravenclaw first, then Gryffindor.

Intelligent, creative, & courageous!

In April of 2010 Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little an-nounced that KU would be putting together a sustain-ability plan for campus. The Center for Sustainability headed up the effort (led by Jeff Severin, 2011 MUP graduate) and urban plan-ning classes jumped in to help.

Fall 2010 four urban plan-ning classes worked on the sustainability plan. Intro-duction to Land Use Plan-ning students created sus-tainable land use plans for West Campus while the Prin-

ciples of Environmental Planning class researched all sorts of strategies to help KU achieve its sustainability goals. The Introduction to Transportation students fo-cused on transportation op-tions (of course!) while the Professional Practice class designed and hosted vision-ing sessions with campus and community members to gain their input. All of the student work was displayed at an open house at the Kan-sas Union December 9th.

The draft plan was unveiled on Earth Day—a year after

the Chancellor’s announce-ment. In the Spring of 2011, the Environmental Planning Techniques class staffed the different working groups for the plan. Students made presentations about what went into the plan and then the Center for Sustainability presented the draft to the Chancellor.

The final version is taking shape and people all across campus pulled together to make it happen.

Photos: Visioning workshop (top left), Open House (middle & bottom left). Photos credit: David F. McKinney/KU University Relations

reviewed options with a corridor advisory board. The team’s recommenda-tions included the concen-tration of land use, preser-vation of right-of-way for multimodal travel, promo-tion of transit, develop-ment of consistent bike and pedestrian nomenclature with plan and map, and the installation of bike parking.

The Kansas Department of Transportation asked the Urban Planning depart-ment to conduct a multi-modal assessment of a pro-posed six lane freeway along the 20 mile long K-7 corridor. Students in the Transportation Planning Implementation class ex-amined best practices, con-ducted an assessment, and

Dean Palos, K-7 Corridor Advisory Committee mem-ber and Johnson County, Kansas, Planning Director, commented: “ I think the study is worthy of submit-ting for a state and national APA student award for its quality, scope, frank as-sessments, and realistic recommendations.”

KU Sustainability Plan

Students Recommend Multimodal Strategies for K – 7 Corridor

Interdisciplinary Collaboration Underway

Today we hear how community change requires crossing factions and creating new collabo-rations. The School of Architecture, Design and Planning is following suit. For the first time its three departments are undertaking a major interdisciplinary collaboration. The initia-tive, Creating Sustainable Communities, is a three year project of the Mid-America Regional Council to promote sustainability in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Urban planning classes will be coordinated and sequenced with classes in 3-D design, graphic design and communications. Projects are also being coordinated with interdisciplinary teams from Kansas State University and the University of Missouri – Kansas City. One major objective is to design multiple transit corridors to promote sustainability through factors such as activity centers, energy efficient structures, access to jobs, storm water management, public health, landscape design, social equity, and public involvement and education.

Students complete Bus Tour of the K-7 corridor

Ariel Heckler, Caroline Rodriquez, Nate Miller, Scott

McGee, Marcy Smalley and Matt Baker (not pictured).

2011 Awards Matt Baker and Jeff

Severin—Phi Kappa Phi for academic achievement

Kristen Cowan—Service to the Program award

Laura Hewitt Sparks—American Institute of Certified Planners award for professional promise

The Jayhawk Planner Page 2

KU Urban Planning Advisory Board - Update

The Advisory Board consists of alumni and other practitioners who keep the program current and relevant to today’s planning needs. Presently, they are working on how to deal with internships during times of fiscal stress & how to raise money for an on-going lecture fund.

KU he met his wife Jane. A move to Utah led to his 30 year career as Associate Pro-fessor in the department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at Utah State University.

He served for many years on the City of Logan’s Historic Preservation Commission and Downtown Alliance. He

John Kennedy Nicholson died at the age of 62 on July 9, 2010. He was the first ever graduate of KU’s Master of Urban Planning program (1975).

John grew up in Lawrence, but a trip to Europe with his parents at the age of 13 set him on his path to learning “how cities work.” While at

worked on Salt Lake City’s Olympic bid and regularly took students on study trips to Paris and Berlin. Over the years, John developed a love of German culture and was a guest professor in Bernburg, Germany. He was always active skiing, cycling, or hik-ing. He is survived by his wife, Jane, and sons, Patrick and Paul.

In Memory of John K. Nicholson

John Kennedy Nicholson, 1st KU MUP

Out and About

Spring 2011 Site Planning Class shows off their designs for client—Redeemer Church, 39th and Baltimore, KC,MO

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Moses Nkhoma graduating in 2008

Remembering Moses Nkhoma

The Urban Planning family was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Moses Nkhoma (MUP 2008) in March. Moses was a Fulbright student from Zambia, who had returned home to teach planning at the Copperbelt University in Kitwe.

During his time at KU, Moses embraced every opportunity to learn about U.S. planning. His advisor, Stacey White, recalls that he became immediately enamored of American football, and used KU football games as an opportunity to study ways to plan for better recycling op-portunities at sporting events. He also worked as an intern at the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture, where he wrote and contributed to that organization’s mission to catalyze the pro-duction and consumption of locally grown foods.

Moses and his wife Jessie made many friends in Lawrence. He had planned to return to KU to begin his Ph.D. studies in Geography. We will miss him greatly, and are thankful for the op-portunity to have known this kind, talented man.

Professor McClure’s Big Adventure!

This fall, Professor McClure will go on sabbatical but it won’t be the rest and relaxation type . He will be in Washington, D.C. conducting research as part of HUD’s first ever sabbatical-in-residence program. He’ll have access to valuable data to extend his research on affordable housing. —Go Get ‘em Kirk!

Alumni & Friends Gathering, APA Conference, Boston, MA, April 11, 2011

Professor White in Charge! For the past two years Prof. Stacey S. White has been the National Conference Committee Chair for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning conference (the one all the professors go to). She’s in charge of the program & making sure everything runs just right.—Keep it up Stacey!

Looking Back

As part of the Galloway Lecture Series, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk presented a lecture entitled “Designing for Community” on September 9, 2010. Earlier in the day she had lunch with students where she offered her thoughts on the future of New Urbanism and planning. Plater-Zyberk of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company is Dean of the University of Miami’s School of Architecture and is

a founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism.

After Plater-Zyberk, the next speaker in the Series was Dan Immergluck, Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He spoke on February 24, 2011 and explained the housing crisis and the impact of foreclosures on urban development.

The Jayhawk Planner Page 4

The Jayhawk Planner is pleased!

Out

In

If you have news items—the Jayhawk Planner wants to know. Send alumni comings & goings and email changes to: ubpl@ku.edu

Say it’s for the “Jayhawk Planner.”

Upcoming Galloway Lecture

Internationally known architectural designer Lars Spuybroek

Lars Spuybroek is a professor of architectural design at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He will speak at 7 p.m. Sept. 8, at the Lawrence Arts Center (940 New Hampshire).

“As designers we have to do two, seemingly opposite, things,” said Spuybroek. “One is to find our way back to beauty, the other is to start conceptualizing our new, digital tools. I think the best is to combine these into one effort.”

“Maison Folie” - Cultural Centre in Lille Wazemmes,

France

Galloway Lecture Series—Exciting Speakers

More Out and About:

In May 2011, Prof. donna luckey retired. Here she is getting her retirement gift—a prairie fire photo. The Jayhawk Planner will miss her and her trailblazing ways!

Prof. Bonnie Johnson presents “Staying fresh and mint - The GTL of Plan-ning” at the April 15, 2011 Colloquium at K-State (and “yes” - GTL means “gym, tan, laundry”!)