Institute for Quality Communities 2015 Annual Report

The UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA

Institute for Quality Communities

2015 ANNUAL REPORT

The UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA

Institute for Quality Communities The University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Quality Communities, while serving and strengthening Oklahoma’s towns and cities, educates the next generation of Oklahoma’s leaders. We collaborate with OU faculty staff, and students, as well as practitioners from around the world to enhance our understanding of the built environment’s influence on quality of life.

Through the Institute’s engagements with communities and civic leaders, our OU team helps the people of Oklahoma reshape their towns and cities in ways that improve our state’s social ties, environment and economy.

More information is available online at iqc.ou.edu.

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INSTITUTE FOR QUALITY COMMUNITIES ASSOCIATES 2015 Ada Main Street • Alliance for A Better Classen • Association of Central Oklahoma Governments Camelot Neighborhood Association • Central Oklahoma Transportation & Parking Authority Cherokee Nation • Chickasaw National Wildlife Refuge • City of Ada • City of Boley City of Lawton • City of Oklahoma City • City of Okmulgee • City of Tulsa Crosbie Heights Neighborhood Association • Downtown OKC Inc. • Main Street Enid Oklahoma Municipal League • Okmulgee Main Street • Project for Public Spaces The Coltrane Group • Urban Land Institute of Oklahoma

2015

This year the Institute for Quality Communities benefited thousands of Oklahomans by assisting communities with urban planning and design projects, serving as hosts for the second Placemaking Conference, and traveling to communities to discuss best practices in design and development.

With several years of completed assistance projects, the Institute is seeing many of its ideas implemented by civic leaders. Construction is underway on a Western Avenue Streetscape in Oklahoma City, a 2013 Institute assistance project. A task force of leaders in Shawnee continues to make progress fulfilling goals from the Institute’s 2012 Downtown Strategic Plan.

In the coming years, the Institute looks forward to continued progress as more communities pursue goals based on recommendations and ideas from staff and student teams.

ASSISTANCE PROJECTS

A BETTER CLASSEN Oklahoma City | February - June 2015 A team of staff and students worked with the Urban Land Institute of Oklahoma, City of Oklahoma City and neighborhood stakeholders to examine options for improving multi-modal travel along Classen Boulevard between Reno Avenue and Northwest 23rd Street. Classen is an important arterial corridor through northwest Oklahoma City.

Five key principles were identified through meetings with community members, government agencies and other observations of the corridor:

• Improve safety and comfort of crossing Classen for people riding bikes and walking

• Improve safety and comfort of north-south travel for people riding bikes and walking

• Maintain Classen’s role as an important automobile commuter corridor.

• Promote a sense of identity on Classen, so that it is both a thoroughfare and a place

• Prepare Classen to be a great transit corridor These key principles guided the creation of five short-term and long-term concepts to evoke further discussion:

• Implement interim interventions at key intersections for improved crossings

• Support an active transportation network that links northwest Oklahoma City neighborhoods to downtown

• Find opportunities for public art to beautify the corridor • Influence development patterns on Classen • Redesign Classen Boulevard as a premier multi-modal corridor

CAMELOT @ 50!

Oklahoma City | February - May 2015 A team of students in the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design Capstone looked at Camelot, a neighborhood that is turning 50 years old in 2015. The team explored how the neighborhood can continue to provide a quality living experience as it enters its second half-century of existence. The project included a Placemaking Residency visit from urban experts Chuck Marohn and Tripp Muldrow.

Recommendations for Camelot are based on ideas of suburban retrofitting, including influence from 2013 Placemaking Conference speaker Ellen Dunham-Jones. Primary concepts focused on:

• Creating pedestrian access to a neighborhood shopping mall • Activating a neighborhood public space in a spacious cul-de-sac There are hundreds of suburban neighborhoods in the Oklahoma City area that are aging or actually becoming “historic” as they turn 50 years old. Covenants expire, house maintenance issues appear, demographics change and “newer, fancier” houses continue to sprout up further out from Oklahoma City’s core.

This project serves as an example of how residents can address similar matters in their neighborhoods.

BOLEY DESIGNWORKS Boley | April 2015 A team conducted a DesignWorks Team Visit to Boley, Oklahoma, through an affiliation with The Coltrane Group. The Coltrane Group has been working with Boley and other historically all-black towns in Oklahoma. Notably, they created the Colored Memories collection of colorized historic photos on display at the Oklahoma History Center.

DesignWorks is a model that brings together community residents and design professionals to address the image of Oklahoma towns. Through a two-day design charrette, a team approaches design topics with a fast-paced, creative process.

In Boley, the team included faculty, staff, and students from the OU College of Architecture and the Institute for Quality Communities. The team toured important sites and met with Boley officials and area residents. Information gathered from these observations and conversations contributed to the recommendations in this report.

DesignWorks reports focus on achievable goals that can be completed with resources that exist in the community. Recommendations for Boley included:

• Improvements to Boley’s gateway at US-62 • Memory exhibition celebrating Boley’s history • Interactive public art to gather community feedback

NW CORRIDOR CONCEPT Oklahoma City | Summer 2015 A team of staff and students provided materials to contribute to the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority’s conceptual planning effort for transit service on the “Northwest Corridor� of Oklahoma City. The Northwest Corridor includes Classen and Northwest Expressway and was originally identified as a priority transit corridor in the Central Oklahoma Fixed Guideway Plan (2005). This heavily used commuter corridor is the longest and most intensely developed urban corridor in the city, with 120,000 jobs, 75,000 residents and three hospitals.

The Institute team attended meetings of the project associates, Advisory Focus Group, and health subcommittee to inform recommendations for seven locations in the corridor. Recommendations demonstrate the types of bicycle, pedestrian and transit infrastructure that could make the corridor viable as part of a multimodal transportation network. The team also analyzed how these improvements might improve access to potential transit stops.

The team examined existing conditions and developed two conceptual street design alternatives for seven locations in the corridor. The Alternative 1 concept design demonstrates basic improvements, and an Alternative 2 concept design demonstrates more robust improvements. The team also analyzed walking and biking access to the location under existing conditions and the projected expansion of access after possible improvements.

The content of the Institute report is meant to contribute to the Northwest Corridor Concept Plan with more detailed feasibility, planning, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, design, and engineering in the future.

INTEGRIS Potential Multi-Modal Node: Existing Walk Shed and Bike Shed

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TAHLEQUAH CULTURAL DISTRICT Tahlequah | September 2015 A team of staff and students joined with the OU-Tulsa Urban Design Studio for a DesignWorks-style project. The team traveled to Tahlequah to examine the historic downtown in association with the Cherokee Nation.

The team worked from the recently published Cultural District Development plan created through the Oklahoma Arts Council. Working with a variety of community groups in the area, the team developed a set of recommendations to enhance the identity of the cultural district.

Some ideas included:

• • • • • •

Colorful crosswalks to distinguish the cultural district area Monumental lighting on an existing communication tower Bilingual Cherokee and English language wayfinding Enhanced cultural trail markers and extended route Ornamental elements on lighting fixtures Cherokee language-learning opportunities throughout the district

BRICKTOWN ACCESSIBILITY REVIEW Oklahoma City | November 2015 The Institute team worked in collaboration with Downtown OKC Inc., a nonprofit that manages Oklahoma City’s downtown business improvement district, to examine accessibility around the Bricktown Canal. Local stakeholders have noticed that accessibility and walkability challenges along the canal still remain.

The canal has commercial frontage at both the canal level and street level, creating a need for stairs, ramps, elevators, and bridges. Creating new access between levels could enhance prospects for continued development in this important urban environment.

The team approached the project with an efficient three-day process to quickly generate ideas. On the first day, the team met with property and business owners who are very familiar with the canal. After an overview of accessibility concepts by the team, the group of more than a dozen stakeholders toured the canal, pointing out concerns they have noticed.

On the second day, the team utilized the newly opened OU Community Design Center in Film Row as a workshop space to develop ideas and receive feedback from the project participants. By the final day of the Bricktown visit, the team presented a series of recommendations:

• Enhance visual and physical access to the west entry point of the canal to capture traffic entering Bricktown via Sheridan and Reno

• Create a single point at the Oklahoma Avenue Bridge where users can

easily transfer between any of the canal’s levels by installing a new elevator

• Replace broken wheelchair lifts with ramps whenever possible • Add stairs where possible to create more opportunities to change levels • Create a wayfinding plan that makes finding accessible routes and public restrooms more intuitive

CONFERENCE & EVENTS

PLACEMAKING CONFERENCE Guests from more than 50 communities around Oklahoma and other states joined us for the second Placemaking Conference in March. This outstanding group of speakers challenged the audience to consider the wide impacts of our built environment on quality of life.

Public health, citizen engagement, economic growth, social equity, creativity, and many more topics are linked to the design of our communities.

This conference is the University of Oklahoma’s opportunity to continue sharing this message among Oklahoma’s elected officials, civic leaders, professionals and activists.

Videos of Placemaking Conference lectures, hosted on the Institute website, continue to be a resource to communities around the nation.

2015 Speaker Highlights Mariela Alfonzo: “I desperately wanted to fix my hometown.

I thought if we could show people the power of place, its value, that things could change.”

Karen Lee: “Why are people failing at changing unhealthy behaviors?

In large part because our environments don’t support changes they’re trying to make.”

Vincent LoVoi: “For an investor to succeed in a community-building investment, they have to have a cheering section in a community.”

Chuck Marohn: “I started to ask questions about why the cities that are experiencing robust growth are having deep financial problems?”

Wilfred McClay: “With increasing globalization, it sometimes seems the world is becoming placeless.

But place does still matter, and we ignore it at our peril.”

Tripp Muldrow: “We work on community branding to benefit people who live in the community, rather than to attract people in.”

Tom Murphy: “Cities are being driven by their ability to attract talent. The most important investment a city can make is education.”

Jeffrey Tumlin: “If a city is requiring more than three parking spaces per 1,000 square feet, it is requiring more parking area than building area.”

CANDY CHANG ARTIST | PLANNER

CAROL COLETTA KNIGHT FOUNDATION

GIL PENALOSA 8-80 CITIES

“Our personal anxieties extend into our public life, and many of the conflicts in our communities come from a lack of trust and understanding. We know fewer neighbors, which means we have our guards up.”

“We live in a democracy that depends on voters, and voting depends on engagement. The future of the city is crowdsourced.

How can places be designed to encourage more robust engagement?”

“To improve walking, you have to make the pedestrian the priority... If you can build cities that work for people who are 8 years old and 80, you have hit the mark.”

PLACEMAKING RESIDENCIES The Institute introduced a new way to expand the reach of the Placemaking Conference by traveling around the state with selected speakers in the days following the conference.

Institute staff accompanied Chuck Marohn and Tripp Muldrow on a road trip around the state to Enid, Lawton, Ada and northwest Oklahoma City.

Each community had its own unique challenges, and during the tour these two experts engaged on a more direct level on specific local matters.

The team also traveled with Gil Penalosa to Tulsa and Oklahoma City, where he presented his ideas to new audiences and met with key stakeholders and leaders. Penalosa shared ideas about how to effectively lead and advocate for change when it comes to street design, walkability and city planning. He emphasized the fact that Oklahoma’s major cities are competing on a global scale for talent, and quality of life is an important part of attracting people.

SELECTED LECTURES & EVENTS March

Placemaking Conference | Norman Served as host for more than 800 visitors to learn from a dozen nationally recognized speakers.

September Oklahoma Municipal League | Tulsa Spoke to city managers about lighter, quicker, cost effective ways to improve cities.

October

Placemaking Residencies | 5 Cities Traveled with Placemaking Conference speakers to Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Lawton, Enid and Ada. April

National Signage Research & Education Conference | Norman Delivered lunch keynote presentation and guided a tour for conference attendees.

Congress for New Urbanism 23 | Dallas Participated in annual event.

Downtown OKC Retailer Workshop | OKC Delivered keynote presentation about how urban design makes retail successful in cities.

May

August

Livable Streets Summit | OKC Participated in new event focusing on improving Oklahoma City streets.

Crosbie Heights Small Area Plan | Tulsa Delivered keynote presentation about neighborhoods that seek transformation.

Oklahoma Main Street Training | Ada Spoke about improving downtown streets with lighter, quicker, cost effective methods.

Quad-State Planning Conference | Kansas City Spoke about how professional city planners can learn from grassroots activists.

November

OG&E Economic Development Training | OKC Spoke about how the built environment influences economic development.

December

Oklahoma Main Street Center Staff and Advisory Board Retreat | OKC Served as host for a meeting at the OU Community Design Center to discuss the next phase of downtown revitalization in Oklahoma.

COLLABORATORS OU College of Architecture Charles Graham, Dean Richard Ryan, Associate Dean Charles Warnken, Associate Dean OU Institute for Quality Communities Shane Hampton, Interim Director Hope Mander, Associate Director Ron Frantz, Professor of Architecture Ian Carlton, Executive Director 2014-15 Institute for Quality Communities Graduate Assistants Matthew Crownover, Regional & City Planning + Landscape Architecture Chase Phillips, Regional & City Planning Sam Shreder, Regional & City Planning Anna Siprikova, Regional & City Planning Shelby Templin, Regional & City Planning Institute for Quality Communities Undergraduate Assistants Willy Burhan, Architecture Kylie Dixon, Architecture Jared Hopkins, Architecture Farshid Motian, Architecture Victor Trautmann, Architecture Students in Bachelor of Science Environmental Design Capstone Ngoc Bui, Environmental Design Kyler Hallmark, Environmental Design Jessi Stringer, Architecture

“Every decision should be made with the goal of increasing community.”

OU President David L. Boren A Letter to America

“The mission of the Institute is to provide technical expertise and resources to help local communities retain a sense of unique identity by creating public spaces which are beautiful and livable.”

OU First Lady Molly Shi Boren Sooner Magazine Spring 2013

The mission of the University of Oklahoma is to provide the best possible educational experience for our students through excellence in teaching, research and creative activity, and service to the state and society.

Created by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a doctoral degree-granting research university serving the educational, cultural, economic and health-care needs of the state, region and nation. The Norman campus serves as home to all of the university’s academic programs except health-related fields. The OU Health Sciences Center, which is located in Oklahoma City, is one of only four comprehensive academic health centers in the nation with seven professional colleges. Both the Norman and Health Sciences Center colleges offer programs at the Schusterman Center, the site of OU-Tulsa. OU enrolls more than 30,000 students, has more than 2,700 full-time faculty members, and has 21 colleges offering 171 majors at the baccalaureate level, 152 majors at the master's level, 79 majors at the doctoral level, 32 majors at the doctoral professional level, and 35 graduate certificates.

The university’s annual operating budget is $1.8 billion. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. www.ou.edu/eoo

For accommodations on the basis of disability, please contact OU Institute for Quality Communities at (405) 325-3449.

This publication, printed by University Printing Services, is issued by the University of Oklahoma. 10 copies have been prepared and distributed at no cost to the taxpayers of the State of Oklahoma.

Report Prepared By: The University of Oklahoma Institute for Quality Communities College of Architecture 830 Van Vleet Oval, Suite 165 Norman, Oklahoma 73019-6141