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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.