Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Environmental Design and Planning / Stephanie A. Rolley / Creativity is vital to the design professions although there is a not a common understanding among designers about the nature of creativity. Designers need a model of creativity that helps place the importance of creativity in the design process and informs educators about how to better enhance creativity in their students. Merrill’s Model of Creativity in Design (Merrill & Rolley 2012) was developed by the researcher and served as the framework for exploring the effect of an academic intervention on the creativity of college freshman design students in order to answer the question: Does participating in an academic intervention affect the creativity of first-year, three-dimensional design students, as measured by the Figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking? A mixed methods approach allowed development of a rich field of data for analysis as well as a body of student work and experiences. Design students were taught creativity techniques in addition to completing short exercises during a one-hour weekly seminar class, Design Thinking and Creativity. These students were compared to a control group of students utilizing a modified Solomon four-group non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental research design, adapted from Campbell and Stanley (1966). A paired t-test compared post-test scores between the treatment group (n=70) and the control group (n= 18). Qualitative data was also collected including a demographic survey, a Creative Self-Assessment, and interviews. The treatment group, on average, (M=113.53, SE=1.82) scored significantly higher than the control group on the post-test administration of the FTTCT (M=104.78, SE=3.41), t(84)=-2.22, p<.05, r=.06). An analysis using Spearman’s Rho determined a significant correlation between individual participant’s scores on three assessments of individual student creativity, which focused on the individual’s creative cognitive abilities; however, there was no significant correlation with the final creativity project. These findings show that deliberate creativity education coupled with creativity exercises allowed students to slightly raise their creativity while the creativity of their peers dropped. Analysis of qualitative data revealed high student confidence and commonalities in defining creativity. This study demonstrates that an academic intervention can improve the creativity of beginning design students and provides a theoretical framework for future creativity research and teaching.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jessica Canfield / Interactive technology is rapidly affecting our society, extending opportunities for convenience, communication, function, and pleasure. Defined as electronic or computation-based entities that reciprocate human use or action, interactive technology allows people the opportunity to personalize how something looks, how it feels, what it does, and how it is perceived. Many physical objects, such as a home thermostat system or a motion-activated sculpture, are embedded with computation that allows them to detect certain environmental influences, and respond with a purposeful action. As suggested by Malcolm McCullough, interactive technologies will be implemented into the urban environment, grounding them to a specific place and reflecting the character and context. Interactive technology will be combined with traditional urban design practices to generate an interactive urban environment. The Civic Room in Downtown St. Louis is prime for renewal. Underutilized and monotonous, the park space is seen as a tear in the urban fabric and lacks diverse program opportunities. The Civic Room will be used as a testing ground for an interactive urban environment, utilizing three dimensions of interactive technology, including information exchange, creative expression, and kinetics, as well as the specific elements of an effective urban open space (Whyte, 1980). Then, the existing site and resulting interactive urban environment will be evaluated on its potential to improve certain dimensions of performance (Lynch, 1981), and its impact on the identity and use of the space. Engaging an interactive urban environment in the St. Louis Civic Room will promote an understanding of the effects that interactive technology can begin to have in a larger context. It will activate the space, promote social collaboration, and establish a dynamic atmosphere that reflects more closely the desired intent of all users. In turn, it can propel the opportunity to approach interactive urban environments as an alternative method of urban space design.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Kessler’s 1893 parks and boulevards system was established to spur investment. The 1893 Report shaped the present city pattern and form of Downtown Kansas City by encouraging decentralized city and metropolitan growth. Today’s system discourages pedestrian mobility and accessibility through the design and context of the public spaces. Since walkability contributes to successful public spaces, walking for transportation to encourage active use could improve today’s open-space system. To address the present condition facing the system, the report analyzes the morphology of Kessler’s parks and boulevards system within the 2010 Greater Downtown Area Plan boundary. For methods, stakeholder notes and professional interviews explain the planning process behind the 2011-2012 KCDC project to revitalize public space. The stakeholder notes and professional interviews assess the context of the Kansas City Design Center’s vision to revitalize Kessler’s parks and boulevards system. Using the StreetSmartTM walkability model, the design and context of public space can help revitalize Kessler’s 1893 system and today’s park system. The model can be used to measure and prioritize investment by assessesing the pedestrian mobility and accessibility of public spaces. The implication of the report is that if the design and context of public spaces addresses the public interest and walkability, public spaces will become connected, diverse, market-competitive, and actively used. Short-term pedestrian amenities and long-term infrastructure improvements provide different ways to prioritize pedestrian mobility and accessibility to create a walkable downtown, one of the goals of the Greater Downtown Area Plan.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / Human happiness is often overlooked in urban revitalization. Many studies have proven the benefits of regular exercise for overall health and happiness. Active transportation adopted as a major form of transportation has the potential to provide similar benefits. Wichita, Kansas, like many other mid-sized, American cities, prioritizes the car over the pedestrian. Currently, the plans for Douglas Avenue, the major thoroughfare, includes only minimal bicycle infrastructure, shared lane symbols (City of Wichita 2013). Lack of focus on the pedestrian and bicyclist only reinforces the auto-dominated downtown. Douglas Avenue is a missed opportunity and needs a re-envisioned strategy based upon current needs. I hypothesized that better understanding the lived biking experience of Downtown Wichita would help me to develop design recommendations that address current streetscape issues as they occur in daily life. This exploratory study documents the experiences of a small group of people who bicycle in or through downtown Wichita on a regular basis. First, participants recorded their experience visually and verbally by using GoPro cameras during a typical bike ride. Next, each participant reviewed their video with me, clarifying their comments and the overall experience. Dominant themes included: urban environment, bicycling infrastructure, road/traffic, safety and motorist behavior. The analysis of the bike rides and follow-up reflections were mapped over each participant’s route to reveal positive, negative, and neutral experiences categorized by theme. Final design strategies for selected areas (determined through analysis of experiences) were then produced based upon feedback and streetscape best practices. Bicyclists of Wichita are faced with many stressful situations during their daily routes. I have realized that downtown Wichita has more than a design problem to fix—an entire bicycle culture must be developed. I learned that while each participant was unique, they wanted the same things: safety, a pleasurable ride, and to be respected by motorists. Not all bicyclists’ needs can be answered through design; however, this proposal can help to create a safer and more pleasurable bicycling experience in downtown. An improved bicycle network provides humans with increased health, freedom to move, encourages and strengthens social connections, and provides a resilient form of transportation.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Eric A. Bernard / The sub-rural Kansas community of Winona stands at a critical crossroad. The dilemma of rural population decline, fueled largely by technological advances in communication, transportation, and agriculture is devastating rural economies and the centers of community social life – namely the local school(s) and main street(s). The physical infrastructure, spatial character and unique identity of rural places is slowly diminished in the process. While great potential exists for the landscape architecture and planning professions to address the patterns of rural decline, the limited market for such services and the lack of regulations requiring those services precludes their effective implementation within rural communities. Within Winona, a long-standing stormwater problem provides an opportunity to address both the stormwater problem and the larger dilemma in a holistic landscape architecture approach. How can contemporary landscape architecture engage rural communities in planning and design solutions aimed at mitigating stormwater issues while addressing community identity loss resulting from population and economic decline? The Place, Space, Community (PSC) Framework developed can determine distinctive qualities and characteristics and illuminate community identity which serves as the creative genesis for stormwater mitigation, and more importantly, the development of social capital critical to economic and population stability and growth. Successful development of social capital and enhanced community identity is dependent on design solutions anchored in the sense of place inherent in the residents of Winona. Landscape architects are uniquely qualified to provide solutions to the stormwater problem which respond to place in ways influencing the identity and social capital of Winona’s residents in dramatically positive ways. This initial focus on a holistic, place-based approach to increased social capital provides a strong foundation for future economic, social and environmental stability and growth into the future. Winona can indeed enjoy a bright and prosperous future with a Place, Space, Community approach.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture, Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / The Mid America Regional Council, (MARC) is the official metropolitan planning organization for the Greater Kansas City region. MARC received a 4.25 million dollar grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2010 to advance the region’s vision of sustainability through vibrant, green, and connected centers and corridors. From which the CSP (Creating Sustainable Places) initiative was established. Responding to this initiative, eight grant funded Kansas State University students worked in a Rock Island Corridor group. This group showed and described ways of achieving MARC’s and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s goals through the development of Master’s Reports. Reports include design ideas and proposals which MARC and city planning departments might not have developed otherwise. Student collaboration between public and city planning departments informed the development of student ideas. Green trail systems and tourism specifically addresses how the quality of life in the Kansas City Metro Area could be enhanced with the implementation of a cultural trail network. This network would provide access to the Rock Island Corridor, create greenspaces, and establish mixed-use housing districts for potential home and business owners. The Greater Kansas City region population is increasing. Trails, parks, and mixed-use buildings for residents in KC could improve the quality of life for future residents. Adding greenspaces, pedestrian mobility, and entertainment districts in which to find region specific activities could help attract people to redeveloping areas. Green trail systems and tourism’s project area is located between the Sprint Center and the Truman Sports Complex. To resolve problems and dilemmas within this region of Kansas City, a routing plan of a cultural trail network is outlined. This cultural trail features new trail heads, cultural centers, and proposed zoning overlays for park developments and mixed-use housing districts. The trail network created connects the Sprint Center and Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, Missouri as a tourism link. Tourism destinations and historic sites add to the economic success of KC. Sites are connected to in the routing plan for the cultural trail. This proposal shows one approach for creating sustainable centers in KC.

Master of Science / Department of Horticulture, Forestry & Recreation Resources / Greg Davis / Urban environmental pollution continues to be exacerbated by a number of factors relating to human population growth including sewage discharged directly into the urban rivers designed with concrete-sealed riverfronts. This has left a number of rivers with deteriorated water quality. Where a riverfront could be the highlight and magnet of the city, it may instead become a stain and waste place. In 1969 American landscape planner McHarg proposed the landscape planning theory, “Design with Nature." His primary argument was that natural processes provide self-regulatory functions that need to be reflected in our plans and designs. Ecological design aims include restoring or promoting natural processes and automatic (bio-physical, regenerative, and adaptive) stabilizers. A wide range of scientific knowledge is available to help guide the designer, but designers usually have limited time to complete their designs. Unfortunately, much of this information is diffusely dispersed in research literature and not easily collected and synthesized by the design community. The purpose of this review is to help provide a synthesis of current thought and to help establish the basis for principles that can aid the designer, offering easy-to-understand design guidelines related to the use of aquatic plants in ecological redevelopment along urban riverfronts. This report focuses on using aquatic plants as the main material to help solve two key problems along riverfront developments: water pollution and flooding. As such this report can serve as a guide for the designer helping them to select aquatic plants using an ecological design approach for the redevelopment of urban riverfronts. It also addresses the essential need to adapt designs based on local site problems and requirements. Since this report provides a review and a basis for where to start in designing with aquatic plants in ecological redevelopment of urban waterfronts, it should not be considered as an exclusive source for the designer but rather a complement to local guidelines and information to derive design solutions.

Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles & Interior Design / Sherry J. Haar and Kim Y. Hiller Connell / Many sustainable garments do not engage wide consumer interest, nor encourage eco-conscious purchasing. Meanwhile, mass consumption of unsustainable apparel contributes to environmental degradation (Black, 2008). However, Niinimäki (2010) suggests that engaging consumers in the design and development of environmentally sustainable products could improve the balance between environmental design decisions and functional, aesthetic, and emotional qualities (Lamb & Kallal, 1992). The purpose of this practice-based research was to (a) identify apparel and environmental attitudes and consumption behaviors of potential sustainable apparel consumers, (b) generate sustainable apparel design concept and product through use of participatory design methods, and (c) evaluate the sustainable concept, product, and participatory method. The sample was 10 female university students. Consumer data was collected through an online (i.e., Facebook) ethnographic journal and a focus group. Qualitative analysis generated the target market’s ideal apparel characteristics and ideal environmental apparel characteristics as apparel offering versatility and variety within their existing wardrobes; elements expressive of their personalities; simple and inexpensive maintenance; organic or recycled materials; and less textile waste at disposal. Additionally, it was determined that participants had low knowledge of the apparel and textile industry and its environmental impacts. Generation of sustainable apparel design ideas occurred through a second focus group session. Analysis of the focus group data, combined with the researcher’s tacit sustainable design knowledge, formed a design concept. The sustainable apparel design concept was comprised of three characteristics reflective of the target market’s ideals and design suggestions: be versatile through various temperatures; social settings, and environments; be convertible through temporary adjustment of functional and aesthetic elements; and be transitional allowing the garment to be layered for greater thermal insulation without detracting from the appearance. The sustainable apparel concept was an application of the pre-existing Design for User Interaction sustainable design strategy. The sustainable apparel design concept was then applied to the development of an outerwear garment and presented to the participants and mentors as a digital sketch. The design addressed the sustainable design concept through interchangeable envelope-style shell layers, an insertable thermal core layer, a buttoned closure at the hemline and interconnecting button points for added alignment between layers. In this garment, the researcher applied participants’ suggestions of style, materials, and inclusion of a core layer. Following sketch refinement, two prototypes were constructed. The first prototype consisted of a thermal core layer and outer coat layer. Due to challenges with the core layer fabric, the second prototype modified the core layer material and style. Additionally, in the second prototype, the shell was made sleeveless and both a bolero style jacket and lining were added. Dual button fasteners connected the layers. During the third focus group session, participants evaluated the design concept, second garment prototype, and the participatory design methods. Participants noted that the design concept provided increased ease of garment care (which could potentially increase the frequency of laundering); ease of garment storage; and increased versatility through varying temperatures. Participants’ suggestions for prototype refinement included the addition of a kick-pleat and reduction of button alignment points. Prototype development did not reach completion during this study. Further refinement of the garment’s pattern and fit, implementation of additional aesthetic/functional elements, and development of an intuitive transformation are necessary. Participant evaluation of participatory methods and study participation were the use of Facebook as an online ethnographic journal made daily participation easy and allowed the researcher to become familiar with their personalities, increasing their comfort at later stages of the research. Participants felt their suggestions were evident in the garment prototype and were as involved as their experience and knowledge allowed. The only participant suggestion regarding the participatory design experience was the addition of updates informing participants of the design progress between focus group sessions. Though the concept and resulting garment were not exceedingly original, participants were pleased with the fruition of their ideas. This finding indicates a willingness to participate in the design process, supportive of participatory design.

Master of Science / Department of Human Ecology / Bronwyn Fees / With obesity on the rise in young children, the need to examine interventions to increase activity levels, a factor in obesity, in childhood is apparent. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between toddlers wearing a costume prop and their type and intensity of movement as well as their level of social participation. It was hypothesized that intensity of movement and types of movement would increase when the child wore a cape compared to no cape. A total of fifty-four subjects between the ages of 24 and 36 months participated in the study, structured into an intervention group (n = 27) and a control group (n = 27). Toddlers in the control group were observed for 20 minutes during free play inside the classroom wearing a specifically designed data collection garment (which looked like a “vest”) to record movement and sound. Participants in the intervention group were observed with the same data collection garment and the costume prop “cape” for 20 minutes during morning free-play period inside. The toddlers‟ behaviors were coded as outlined by Brown, Pfeiffer, McIver, Dowda, Joao, Almeida, and Pate‟s (2006) Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children-Preschool (OSRAC-P), modified to capture the unique movements of toddlers for the present study. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) were utilized to examine the effect of a costume prop on intensity of activity, types of gross motor movement, and forms of social play. Results revealed the intervention group exhibited significantly greater engagement in onlooker, solitary, and parallel play (p < .001) than the control group. No significant differences in the levels of intensity or types of activity exhibited between the two groups. Implications for further research on physical activity and stimulating physical activity in the classroom are discussed

Master of Landscape Architecture / Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Howard D. Hahn / “There is an alarming gap between awareness and action on [environmental issues]” (Sheppard, 2005). Public awareness of how to cope and change with these issues is lacking (Sheppard, 2004; Nicholson-Cole, 2005; Dockerty et al., 2005), but new visualization technologies can begin to bridge the gap through environmental education. Environmental education focuses on the user exploring an environment, environmental issues, problem solving and ways to mitigate these issues. While the younger generations (middle to high school students) are much more aware of current and future environmental issues than older generations, the solutions to these problems may not be so apparent. By combining the need to educate young adults about climate change, regional ecosystem climate mitigation, and ecological management for technologically driven youth, middle and high school students can better understand their environment’s impact on climate-change regulation. Through literature synthesis, documentation of existing visualization exhibits and technologies, and preliminary technology exploration, a production process, criteria, framework, and technology recommendations were established. These components informed the final storyboards, which visually organized a proposal to build a 3D learning environment focused on the Konza Prairie and its ecological management practices.