This thesis examines the possibility of applying the concept of interest to public urban land use system planning, although it is not intended that the idea should be limited to urban planning. The concept is considered in detail, as is the question of who can have interests. The conclusion on that is that individuals and the public are the only true categories of interest holders, although interest groups need to be recognised for practical reasons. Corporations and governments cannot be true interest holders. The application of the concept was assessed in relation to the subject-matter of urban land use planning, and a typical land use planning process. The possibility of applying it to a hypothetical system of planning using the pragmatic method was also considered. The final part looked at the ‘institutions’ of planning, that is, law, politics, professional planning, administration, and administrative tribunals, to see how they would likely relate to a planning system based on the use of the concept of interest. The conclusion was that there would be no insurmountable difficulties even If not all of these institutions would readily embrace the concept. The idea was found to be plausible in so far as a comprehensive theory of interest-based urban land use planning was able to be worked out. By considering practical issues throughout, a strong presumption was raised that it would be feasible, although testing and further development of the idea would be necessary. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method were reviewed. The expected benefits were ensuring that public urban land use system planning was humanistic, and providing a concept, or theme, around which a comprehensive theory of such planning could be constructed. Likely areas of difficulty were misunderstanding due to the lack of agreement on the meaning of the concept, although the meaning that should be adopted for the proposed purpose was spelt out. Secondly, a conservative attitude towards the use of concepts other than interest in planning and related disciplines could cause resistance to the adoption of the proposed method. It was shown how the idea is largely novel, but that recently there has been increasing use of the concept of interest in the land use planning literature. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

This thesis examines the possibility of applying the concept of interest to public urban land use system planning, although it is not intended that the idea should be limited to urban planning. The concept is considered in detail, as is the question of who can have interests. The conclusion on that is that individuals and the public are the only true categories of interest holders, although interest groups need to be recognised for practical reasons. Corporations and governments cannot be true interest holders. The application of the concept was assessed in relation to the subject-matter of urban land use planning, and a typical land use planning process. The possibility of applying it to a hypothetical system of planning using the pragmatic method was also considered. The final part looked at the ‘institutions’ of planning, that is, law, politics, professional planning, administration, and administrative tribunals, to see how they would likely relate to a planning system based on the use of the concept of interest. The conclusion was that there would be no insurmountable difficulties even If not all of these institutions would readily embrace the concept. The idea was found to be plausible in so far as a comprehensive theory of interest-based urban land use planning was able to be worked out. By considering practical issues throughout, a strong presumption was raised that it would be feasible, although testing and further development of the idea would be necessary. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method were reviewed. The expected benefits were ensuring that public urban land use system planning was humanistic, and providing a concept, or theme, around which a comprehensive theory of such planning could be constructed. Likely areas of difficulty were misunderstanding due to the lack of agreement on the meaning of the concept, although the meaning that should be adopted for the proposed purpose was spelt out. Secondly, a conservative attitude towards the use of concepts other than interest in planning and related disciplines could cause resistance to the adoption of the proposed method. It was shown how the idea is largely novel, but that recently there has been increasing use of the concept of interest in the land use planning literature. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

This thesis examines the possibility of applying the concept of interest to public urban land use system planning, although it is not intended that the idea should be limited to urban planning. The concept is considered in detail, as is the question of who can have interests. The conclusion on that is that individuals and the public are the only true categories of interest holders, although interest groups need to be recognised for practical reasons. Corporations and governments cannot be true interest holders. The application of the concept was assessed in relation to the subject-matter of urban land use planning, and a typical land use planning process. The possibility of applying it to a hypothetical system of planning using the pragmatic method was also considered. The final part looked at the ‘institutions’ of planning, that is, law, politics, professional planning, administration, and administrative tribunals, to see how they would likely relate to a planning system based on the use of the concept of interest. The conclusion was that there would be no insurmountable difficulties even If not all of these institutions would readily embrace the concept. The idea was found to be plausible in so far as a comprehensive theory of interest-based urban land use planning was able to be worked out. By considering practical issues throughout, a strong presumption was raised that it would be feasible, although testing and further development of the idea would be necessary. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method were reviewed. The expected benefits were ensuring that public urban land use system planning was humanistic, and providing a concept, or theme, around which a comprehensive theory of such planning could be constructed. Likely areas of difficulty were misunderstanding due to the lack of agreement on the meaning of the concept, although the meaning that should be adopted for the proposed purpose was spelt out. Secondly, a conservative attitude towards the use of concepts other than interest in planning and related disciplines could cause resistance to the adoption of the proposed method. It was shown how the idea is largely novel, but that recently there has been increasing use of the concept of interest in the land use planning literature. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

This thesis examines the possibility of applying the concept of interest to public urban land use system planning, although it is not intended that the idea should be limited to urban planning. The concept is considered in detail, as is the question of who can have interests. The conclusion on that is that individuals and the public are the only true categories of interest holders, although interest groups need to be recognised for practical reasons. Corporations and governments cannot be true interest holders. The application of the concept was assessed in relation to the subject-matter of urban land use planning, and a typical land use planning process. The possibility of applying it to a hypothetical system of planning using the pragmatic method was also considered. The final part looked at the ‘institutions’ of planning, that is, law, politics, professional planning, administration, and administrative tribunals, to see how they would likely relate to a planning system based on the use of the concept of interest. The conclusion was that there would be no insurmountable difficulties even If not all of these institutions would readily embrace the concept. The idea was found to be plausible in so far as a comprehensive theory of interest-based urban land use planning was able to be worked out. By considering practical issues throughout, a strong presumption was raised that it would be feasible, although testing and further development of the idea would be necessary. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method were reviewed. The expected benefits were ensuring that public urban land use system planning was humanistic, and providing a concept, or theme, around which a comprehensive theory of such planning could be constructed. Likely areas of difficulty were misunderstanding due to the lack of agreement on the meaning of the concept, although the meaning that should be adopted for the proposed purpose was spelt out. Secondly, a conservative attitude towards the use of concepts other than interest in planning and related disciplines could cause resistance to the adoption of the proposed method. It was shown how the idea is largely novel, but that recently there has been increasing use of the concept of interest in the land use planning literature. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Larry L. Lawhon / This report addresses the questions of whether the Birch Street Development in Brea, CA is a successful example of Smart Growth, and whether it is something that can be replicated in other cities. It is important to find the answers to both of these questions because Smart Growth may hold the key to solving the problem of sprawl, and the Birch Street Development could potentially serve as a Smart Growth implementation guide for cities everywhere.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary C. Kingery-Page / Literature shows that walkable neighborhoods have the potential to significantly decrease the carbon footprint of cities by lessening the need to drive, as well as providing many health, economic, and social benefits to society. The goal of this research, therefore, was to devise a practical strategy to create walkable places in the car-oriented city of Wichita, Kansas. A necessary component of this strategy is an “urban triage,” described by Jeff Speck in Walkable City as identifying streets with the most existing potential and concentrating limited resources to their improvement (2012, 254). This report employed an urban triage of Wichita at two scales based on three central characteristics of walkability: urban fabric, dense street network and connectivity. Comparing block length and link to node ratio, I built a case for downtown, which is organized on a traditional grid of streets, over a typical shopping district organized around the more modern hierarchical pattern of streets. Within downtown, I further narrowed the study area primarily based on urban fabric, the degree to which streets are enclosed by buildings. I created a method to measure urban fabric, using aerial imagery and street views, taking into account the consistency of the street wall, height of buildings and foreground. The strongest complete corridor, in terms of urban fabric, and three potential links between that corridor and downtown’s largest event space, became the study area for further analysis. A rubric, based on characteristics of walkability extrapolated from literature, served as the instrument to measure the attributes of each block in the study area. Each attribute, as well as the characteristics that they create, yielded a map, contrasting strong and weak blocks. This analysis provided the detailed information necessary to create an informed conceptual strategy to resolve these weaknesses. Selective building infill resolved gaps in the urban fabric, road diets and improved crossings restored modal balance to the street, and a new pedestrian corridor completed a broken street and activated an existing park.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Claude A. Keithley / In the near future, due to the baby boom of the sixties, a large proportion of the American population will fall into the age group of over 65. This dominating portion of the population will naturally require decent living styles and facilities. Most cities in the US, however in their current plan, do not seem to have enough provisions to address the needs of these senior citizens. The needs and rights of the aged are often found to be not properly addressed as the majority of the population are young and able-bodied and their needs are sure to take priority in formulating any community's plan and policies. Necessary changes in the current plan of many American cities are required to accommodate the needs of the elderly people as the baby boomers age. In this report, an attempt is made to understand and define the needs of the aging population who will very soon form a formidable part of the community. Of late, aging in place has become quite a popular lifestyle among senior citizens who usually like to spend the rest of their life in the same community as they have spent most of their adulthood or even childhood. Moving out of one's community and learning to adapt to a new environment is hardly desirable for anybody at a ripe age when one would rather lead an easy life by relaxing and engaging in the fond recollections of the past. The report attempts to study the aging components within the existing plan and investigates whether they exist or not and prescribes the required components in the comprehensive plan. For that purpose, the literature review identifies the needs of the elderly followed by a review of the Manhattan Urban Area Comprehensive Plan to determine how well the city plan addresses the needs of the elderly. The review of this plan provides a critique of the city's plan in terms of its efforts to make the community livable for the elderly. Moreover, the last chapter provides policy guidelines for the development of a specific component of the plan targeting the needs of the elderly.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Sheri L. Smith / The Kansas City Design Center (KCDC) Interdisciplinary Urban Design Studio is one of a myriad of design studios throughout the country, which seek to bring students of differing educational backgrounds together in an urban environment. In this setting they collaborate with each other, faculty, and outside professionals in an effort to stem many of the problems associated with urban America today. While these design studios have made their goals and objectives clear to the public and their studio participants, what are they offering in terms of a quality interdisciplinary educational experience? How interdisciplinary are these urban design studios? Are students receiving the same educational experiences? The above questions can only be answered by documenting the processes involved as well as looking to the students for their insight and feelings of their own individual educational experiences while taking part in the studio. The Kansas City Design center builds its educational endeavors around its interdisciplinary design studio. The goal of this studio is to “strengthen the educational experiences of future planning and design practitioners by engaging university faculty and students with real world issues facing Kansas City’s built environment.” Through this studio, faculty and students are able to work closely with local client groups working towards improving the built environment in Kansas City. If Kansas State University and the University of Kansas continue to send students to KCDC to study each year, it only seems appropriate that their faculty and potential students understand what is taking place at this particular studio. Therefore, the goal of this research paper is to describe the projects undertaken during the inaugural Kansas City Design Center Urban Design Studio and to analyze the interdisciplinary environment of the studio.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / The use of partnerships between the public and private realm have become increasingly popular. This is due to today’s challenges of declining public resources to fulfill the social and physical needs of urban environments. This dilemma has placed a heightened emphasis on executing creative and collaborative redevelopment projects. Downtown Kansas City has an opportunity for such a project. Washington Square Park in downtown Kansas City, Missouri has a unique opportunity to stand as a catalyst project that would reconnect the urban fabric of the city, increase the population within downtown, and create an unsurpassed gateway into the greater downtown area. The public realm alone cannot accomplish this undertaking. Therefore, implementing the redevelopment of the park through public private partnerships is a natural choice. This study explores the intricacies of implementing the proposed Washington Square Park redevelopment project through the use of public private partnerships. It draws from a body of literature and precedents to provide background material, context and principles that are applied to the Washington Square Park project. The study employs site, market, and stakeholder analyses to assess the current economic environment, property ownership, power relationships and influences relating to the redevelopment project. These methods determined that as the value of Washington Square Park increases so will adjacent property; existing economic incentives are critical for project implementation; multi-family and retail real estate markets are strong while office trends are improving; current zoning allows for very high density with no height limitations; and several “key players” hold the attributes for establishing a conservancy for Washington Square Park. These findings reveal the symbiotic relationships between Washington Square Park and the surrounding context which provides the rational basis for project implementation through public private partnerships. Overall, this document informs the various stakeholders and decision-makers of pertinent information pertaining to the Washington Square Park redevelopment project and propositions a scenario for project implementation through the use of public private partnerships.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Hyung Jin Kim / In the past 20 years, the promotion of bicycle-friendly environments in the United States has become a major topic for city planners, engineers, landscape architects, and concerned citizens. The City of Manhattan, Kansas, and Kansas State University (KSU) are following the trend by creating more bicycle infrastructure. As an example, the Campus Planning and Facilities Management Department at KSU recently installed new signs on the pavement that support existing bicycle rules around campus. The rules require cyclists to dismount and walk their bicycles on the main campus sidewalk and yield to pedestrians when crossing Bosco Plaza. While signs are important, these markers should be part of a bigger plan that includes infrastructure, education and enforcement working together to create a safe, active transportation system. This project explores bicycling culture at KSU campus and uses three key concepts of infrastructure, education, and enforcement to discover what improvements are needed and what improvements can be made. The video-based observation method consists of recording the activity of cyclists entering the campus core and analyzing the behavior of cyclists and pedestrians. The survey was conducted via social media in order to understand safety perceptions and behaviors of bicyclists and pedestrian as daily commuters to campus. The results from both methods show a lack of involvement with infrastructure, education, and enforcement for cycling at Kansas State which creates areas that are not safe for pedestrians. Bicycling (15.4%) and walking (46.7%) represent 62.1% of commuters to campus; therefore, a safer approach to campus infrastructure needs to be addressed for these users. Results indicate that the dismount signs are ignored 82.9% of the time, and collisions between cyclists and pedestrians do happen on campus. An absence of enforcement is shown in the data, which is compounded by a non-existing bicycling education program, making for a less than optimal active transportation system on campus.