Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Effective open space is critical to the urban quality of life because it fosters environmental, social, and economic vitality. However, some designers, planners, and developers have a tendency to focus on only one of these aspects and, thus, create spaces that are monofunctional and inefficient over time. To ensure effective open spaces in cities, landscape architects must think strategically and employ design tactics that are multifunctional and perform environmentally, socially, and economically. My objective was to provide landscape architects with a framework that ensured effective open spaces through the manipulation of the urban surface. In this report, I explored how the urban surface could be used to create multifunctional, flexible, and adaptive solutions that informed and directed (re)development so that urban spaces had lasting value. A thorough literature review that explored concepts from Jane Jacobs, Alex Wall, and Ying-Yu Hung was used to create a theoretical framework that consisted of various tactics. The tactics were aesthetic, programmatic, contextual, and/or performative in nature, and the aggregation of these tactics in the urban surface catalyzed environmental, social, and economic vitality in urban open spaces. My methodology was iterative, cycling periods of research, design, and analysis in both group and individual settings. The theoretical framework was used to evaluate and inform design decisions, and the design decisions refined and validated the theoretical framework itself. The theoretical framework was first applied to two precedent studies through a series of diagrammatic mapping exercises. Then, the theoretical framework was applied to two collaborative, multidisciplinary redevelopment projects. The first project was the redevelopment of the Village Plaza shopping center in Manhattan, Kansas (MHK Project), and the second project was the revitalization of Downtown East in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the annual Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, sponsored by the Urban Land Institute (ULI Competition). Both of these projects were evaluated and refined using the same diagrammatic mapping exercises. The effectiveness of using the theoretical framework as a guide for designing successful open spaces was validated with my team’s victory in the finalist round of the ULI Competition. The tactics in the theoretical framework offered pragmatic and multiscalar strategies that I incorporated into the open spaces that my team and I designed. Ultimately, I discovered that the role of surface was to accommodate, organize, structure, and facilitate the dynamic processes necessary for environmental, social, and economic vitality, which enhanced the urban quality of life and created an indisputable sense of place.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning / Jessica Canfield / As urban populations continue to grow, parks will become a critical component to creating and sustaining healthy cities. A review of literature related to landscape performance and 21st century parks reveals a paradigm shift in the ways we engage our built landscapes. No longer is it environmentally or fiscally responsible to implement and maintain resource consumptive city parks that are exclusively concerned with fulfilling social needs. To create environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial spaces, 21st century parks must include design elements and best management practices that ensure long-term sustainability. In Manhattan, Kansas, most of the city’s parks are recreation centric and primarily focused on fulfilling social needs. However, Fairmont Park has yet to be fully realized, and therefore presents the city an opportunity to implement its first sustainable park. Using the Sustainable Sites Initiative’s 2009 Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks as a guide, a series of sustainability evaluations were conducted on Fairmont Park’s existing conditions in order to reveal its current level of sustainability. To understand how the park was originally envisioned to perform, the same analysis was conducted on Fairmont Park’s 1998 Master Plan. Findings from this process revealed an opportunity to update the park’s current master plan, in order to achieve enhanced environmental, social, and economic benefits. Guided by 21st century park design, implementation, and management strategies, the redesign of Fairmont Park will not only help Riley County fulfill its goal of becoming a State leader in sustainable design, but it will provide the Manhattan community with a state-of-the-art productive park, which promotes environmental education and stewardship, physical activity, local food production and composting, and stormwater management practices.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning / Jessica Canfield / The Kansas City downtown area is experiencing a population influx, which is projected to increase over the next few decades, requiring new residential areas and increased parkland in the downtown. The Kansas City West Bottoms, located between the downtowns of Kansas City Missouri and Kansas City Kansas, is an urban district plagued by vast tracts of underutilized land, poor connectivity, and vulnerability to flooding. To address the issues of the West Bottoms and the area’s need for new urban development, this project proposes the implementation of a new urban park that both supports and is supported by a new urban district. In order to transform the West Bottoms into a vibrant mixed-use community, the park and redevelopment will be phased in over a period of 33 years. Intermediate natures, landscapes that temporarily occupy and improve parts of the city undergoing transformation, will be used to preserve current open space, which will later transition into parkland as the district grows. Ultimately, West Bottoms 2048 will draw users and activity to the district while generating a lasting environmental and economic impact on the downtown area.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / History is embedded in a landscape. History of a community is embedded in the landscape where land was inhabited, cultivated, and where people have and continue to thrive. Rural communities have this embedded history and culture to look back. However, these communities are suffering from loss of population, jobs, economic stability, and accessibility (Woods 2008). This phenomenon can destroy not only communities and peoples’ lives, but also the history and culture that is embedded in a landscape. Nicodemus, Kansas a rural communities with an important history. This history begins after the Civil War during times of new found freedom and the reality of independence for many former African-American slaves. The residents and descendants of Nicodemus are passionate and proud of their history and see their community identity as embedded in the history and culture. Nicodemus has experienced loss of population and economic vitality throughout its history. However, Nicodemans’ strong connection to the history remains intact. The study argues that art can provide a way of expressing Nicodemus, Kansas’s identity. This study is primarily an art-based investigation into what materials, mediums, and forms of art can best express the identity and history of Nicodemus, Kansas. Art-based research is less concerned with the discovery of truth than with the creation of meaning (Eisner 1981). “...[V]isual art is a significant source of information about the social world, including cultural aspects of social life” (Leavy 2009, 218). Research methods include historiography, literature review, oral history, reflexive critique and site visits, culminating in the creation of a series of mixed media artworks. Through the research and creation of artworks, the identity of Nicodemus, Kansas is expressed visually.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning / Katie Kingery-Page / Many cities in the United States have developed into auto-dominated places with decreased accessibility for pedestrians and bleak cityscapes of wide, barrier-like streets. While many studies exist on the correlation between street width and vehicular safety, and vehicular speed and pedestrian safety, little information is available on the correlation between street width and pedestrian safety. This project began while the researcher interned with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) Pedestrian Projects Group (PPG). The researcher was asked to begin a study of New York City (NYC) streets, specifically analyzing the relationship between street width and pedestrian safety using NYC safety data. The street types studied represent a variety of conditions found in many cities. The exploratory correlation study, completed after returning to Kansas State University, found that narrow streets trend towards higher safety. The correlation study between street width and pedestrian safety provides justification to narrow Bluemont Avenue in Manhattan, Kansas and increase pedestrian safety. Bluemont Avenue is a primary vehicular connection between the east and west sides of Manhattan. The city’s future construction plans propose widening the street to accommodate a center turning lane along the entire length of Bluemont Avenue. The research presented in this report supports the hypothesis that narrower streets are safer for pedestrians. By utilizing the results of the study, a designer can strengthen their argument to narrow wide, auto-dominated streets. In addition, the use of a two-stage design process can create a safer environment for pedestrians on Bluemont Avenue. By utilizing a temporary design followed by a permanent installation, the City of Manhattan can decrease the priority of Bluemont Avenue within the vehicle hierarchy and increase pedestrian safety. The intent of this report is to begin a conversation with the City of Manhattan to begin looking at streets not as mere vehicular paths, but paths for all modes of transit.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Many cities are beginning to embrace the 24-hour city concept, where people stay up later, businesses are open 24 hours a day, and nighttime economies are expanding (Bianchini, 1995). Cities can reap social, economic, and cultural benefits by extending business hours into the night, creating safe and attractive reasons for people to utilize urban public spaces during these times, and connecting these spaces both physically and culturally to surrounding districts (Roberts, 2009). Washington Square Park in Kansas City, Missouri is an underused civic space identified as a potential anchor park for the city that could become a downtown destination, both day and night (KCDC, 2012). This report focuses on the nighttime aspects of the park, making it a vibrant evening destination for downtown Kansas City that could help boost economic activity, create new social opportunities and strengthen physical, and cultural connections to surrounding districts. Through a process of project goal finding, questioning and analysis, a set of programming strategies was developed and applied to a design for Washington Square Park that reflects the needs of stakeholders, relevant theory, and lessons learned from built precedents. Key components of a successful nighttime programming strategy for Washington Square Park include: extending business hours into the night; increasing the amount of retail, restaurant and building uses; establishing a sense of place with lighting; enhancing views; creating strong connections to surrounding areas; creating attractive amenities that extend into the night; and creating a space that is welcoming and safe with appropriate levels of lighting, activity and security. Through this research I have found that nighttime programming for an urban civic park can be an effective way of helping to create an active downtown destination for cities, benefiting the area socially, economically and culturally. Utilizing evening programming strategies in Washington Square Park can, not only help to activate the space during more hours of the day, but also create a unique sense of place that defines the park as an urban destination both day and night. By including nighttime programming strategies into design considerations, new opportunities for economic growth and social interaction can be revealed.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Howard Hahn / Outdoor landscape irrigation is a prodigious consumer of potable water and accounts for more than 50% of urban water use in the United States. It is therefore imperative to reserve potable water for essential uses. The variability of recent drought trends coupled with the prediction of more intense, less frequent storms and rising water costs suggest the need to recycle as much free water as possible to meet non-essential irrigation demands. But is it possible to harvest enough water on-site to meet landscape water requirements with little to no reliance on municipal water? If not, how can design professionals adjust planting plans to bring the landscape water demand into equilibrium with potential supply while still meeting aesthetic objectives? This report uses predictive performance-based modeling to answer these questions. The author chose three study sites in St. Louis, Missouri to determine if the water demand of the existing landscapes can be supplied by collecting enough rainfall runoff and air conditioning condensate. Site selection depended on site size, differing harshness of localized environmental conditions, and ability to collect and generate large quantities of runoff and condensate water. Methods included a literature review, site inventory/analyses, estimation of plant water requirements using evapotranspiration data, estimation of rainfall runoff from various surfaces, and estimation of air conditioning condensate using thermodynamic equations. Findings show that landscape water needs for two of the three sites can be potentially met by on-site water sources with little to no reliance on municipal water. This was due to limited landscape areas compared to larger paved areas, the building footprint, and large quantities of air conditioning condensate produced during the hottest months. Under existing conditions, the third site was out of water balance. Consequently, the author undertook a planting re-design to convert low priority turf expanses to a naturalistic meadow requiring less water. Additionally, the author performed a return on investment analysis for both retrofit conditions and new construction. Overall, this research demonstrates that site-scale water harvesting for landscape irrigation purposes is a viable option to curtail reliance on municipal water supplies in the Midwest and similar climates.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / According to Barbara Hendricks, play environment designer and consultant, “If we want children to grow up with a zest for living we need to give them living spaces that express life as a grand experience.” Hendricks emphasizes playtime is important for children to process formal lessons (Hendricks 2011). This applied design research project seeks to facilitate child development through an experiential learning playscape while addressing stormwater management for Bluemont Elementary School. The central research question of this project is: How can school playgrounds be designed to afford children improved social interactions and experiential learning? An exploration of landscape affordances theory (Sanseter and Hansen 2009, Heft 1988) and experiential learning (Kolb 1984), combined with social interactions and cognitive child development (Addo-Atuah 2012), formed a theory base for the project. Playground observations, stakeholder surveys, stakeholder interviews, and site inventory and analysis informed the eventual design. Major factors influencing students’ play include age, playground rules, equipment available for use, and weather. Site conditions, including topography and site drainage, can also influence students’ play. In current conditions, stormwater is a schoolyard liability restricting play and safe site circulation. The researcher gathered insights from student surveys, playground observations, teacher interviews, and site inventory and analysis to complete a comprehensive master plan. The comprehensive master plan and detailed stormwater management plan address the schoolyard over the next twenty to fifty year outlook. The designs resolve practical issues while increasing the variety of site educational and play affordances available to students and teachers for play and learning. A primary goal of the detailed plan is to convert stormwater schoolyard liabilities into amenities and educational tools.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture / Dennis L. Law / In the late 1800s George Kessler and the Board of Parks and Boulevard Commissioners (BPBC) developed a Parks and Boulevard system for Kansas City, MO laying the foundation for the city to grow. Development of the system is the result of the combination of Kessler’s ideology, as well as his planning and design practices. The parks and boulevard system established a framework giving due weight to existing conditions, adapting itself to topography, avoiding forced routes and forced construction. This framework based itself around the value of beauty, the city’s duty, the effect of parkways and boulevards on real-estate values, and the experience of other cities. Today, auto-centric sprawl has revealed its limitations, bringing focus back to the neglected urban fabric. The current urban fabric is dominated with automotive infrastructure responding only to the pedestrian where convenient or required. Results of this trend in development are concrete jungles. Unfortunately, the city character developed by the expanded parks and open space systems has been or is in danger of being lost. Opportunities for redevelopment are rising as these expansive urban infrastructures are reaching the end of their designed life cycle. As people begin to repopulate urban areas, revitalization of the parks and green space is of high priority. Adapting George Kessler’s practices, principles, and ideals behind the Kansas City Parks and Boulevard System to contemporary practices, principles, and ideals in landscape architecture will allow a designer to enhance urban centers. Using my findings, I will develop a master plan for the Kansas City Downtown Loop. By enhancing sites with parks and plazas connected with pedestrian friendly greenways, the Downtown Loop will be a safer, more pleasant place for pedestrians and motorists alike.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary C. Kingery-Page / Children are imaginative, creative, and active. Children of all age groups are influenced by their surroundings, particularly school-aged children (Frost, 2010). School-aged children’s physical, emotional, social, and intellectual developmental characteristics are influenced by their surrounding environments. Today, uniform playgrounds are diminishing the opportunities for youth to develop their personal creativity and imagination through play (Thompson 2007, Solomon 2005). By integrating art into playgrounds, these environments will offer children greater opportunity for developmental enrichment through their interactions with the site. Researched cases of art and play have inspired the development of a typology. The typology is a collection of quintessential ways that settings for play can be visually and experientially enriched by art. This process began with three critical questions; 1) What constitutes a playground? 2) What is art? and 3) How can art be integrated into playgrounds? More than 30 precedents that demonstrate art in a play setting were examined. Noting differences and similarities between the precedents, 12 types were identified. Next, analysis matrices identifying primary and, if applicable, secondary placement of each of the precedents in the 12 developed types, including sub-types, giving art in playgrounds a place. Also classified was type of art, high or vernacular, for each precedent. The research methodology was an iterative process of literature and precedent research followed by the distillation of types, further research, and refinement of the typology framework.