Public Interest?
Posted on January 31, 2010 by erin
It seems like TV, at least more times than not, portrays small rural communities as being full of close-knit people that love going out on Saturdays to help repaint the fence around town hall or plant flowers along Main Street. This image is not always accurate, but why not? For one, smaller communities don’t have [...]
Walkability on East Washington
Posted on January 31, 2010 by Kate
As a student of the Masters of Urban Design program, we are currently working on a project to revitalize East Washington Street in Indianapolis. East Washington is home to the historic Cumberland Road (National Road US 40), with many historic factories and commercial buildings. Over the years the area has transformed and become disjointed by [...]
Improving What We Have.
Posted on January 31, 2010 by jmshipe
As an Urban Designer in training our current project has an emphasis on mass transit for Indianapolis. In one of our meeting with the public I got to thinking, what can we do now to the current transit system to improve Indianapolis? Many of the residence expressed concerns about their neighborhoods which were the small [...]
Confronting Social Stigmas
Posted on January 26, 2010 by JDay
When designing with a community, there is oftentimes social and cultural stigmas previously associated with certain places, such as a ‘ghetto’ or ‘eclectic, art village.’ Social stigmas tend to insinuate a negative connotation and can pose critical obstacles to successful future development. For this particular entry, I am defining social stigmas as perceived or realistic [...]
_devastation _opportunity_2010
Posted on January 23, 2010 by Sherri Agnew
Haiti is in dire state right now. The earthquake that completely devastated Haiti is a somber topic that makes news reports almost unbearable to watch. People are fleeing and fighting in order to get clean water, food, sanitary conditions and shelter. An estimated 200,000 people have perished in the rubble of a country that was [...]
Mass-Transit Catalyst
Posted on January 22, 2010 by akowalski1502
The proverb “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far” comes to mind here. This phrase has been echoed time and time again since President Theodore Roosevelt articulated it in a speech more than 100 years ago. Focusing on mass transportation as a “big stick”, could help the United States create an [...]
Hello World, This is Me.
Posted on January 19, 2010 by Quaddy
Let’s start this blog off simple: my nickname is Quaddy because my friends are convinced I will be the first UnderWater Urban Planner. The nickname was shortened from Quad-U-P because no one enjoyed calling me something that sounded like a urinary problem. I have every intention of becoming the premiere underwater urban planner in my [...]
Inspiring how we build cities with the message of Dr. King
Posted on January 18, 2010 by brad
Today we remember one of my heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King lived, and died, before my time, and many of the raw injustices he stood up against were mere photographs in the textbooks through which I learned his story. I grew up with one black student in my school. So it may [...]