Category: Projects

Community-neighborhood projects

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Sustainable Muncie Project:  Assessing Sustainability for the City of Muncie

This spring, the Sustainable Muncie Project was implemented in Urban Planning’s Regional Analysis and Design Studio class. The students inventoried, assessed, analyzed, and mapped the social, environmental, and economic factors for Muncie, Indiana, to promote a more sustainable community and identify its vulnerable populations and areas. The students partnered with the Muncie Action Plan’s Task Force 2, which focuses on strengthening neighborhoods through organizing associations, building leadership, and fostering collaborations. The project produced a location-specific inventory and analysis of indicators for the City of Muncie.

See the StoryMap page | Read the final report (pdf – coming soon)

Faculty Mentor: Sanglim Yoo
Department: Urban Planning
Community Partner: Muncie Action Plan Task Force 2
Student Team: Lauren Bouslog, Sydney Fawcett, Dylan Gehring, Hannah Jones, Riley Jones, Andrew Kanwit, Laiha Lane, Will Snyder, Jeffery Tompkins, and Brett Willaman

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The Muncie Challenge

Take the Muncie Challenge!  Students in the Community Collaboration and Service Learning in Wellness Management class spent spring semester (2020) talking with Muncie residents to uncover what they love about their city and then working with some of those same residents to help others experience Muncie in a new light and find ways to make Muncie a little better each day. Students had fun and found a new appreciation for Muncie.  They then got to share their perspective on how others can take advantage of the great places they learned about.  Students can take what they learned and put it into practice where ever they find themselves in the future.

So what is the Muncie Challenge?  The Challenge encourages you to take action in 10 areas.  These include: Eat, Connect, and be Social; Get Moving; Show Your Community Pride; Enjoy Muncie Parks and Markets; Connect Professionally; Experience Muncie Culture; Give Back to your Community; Jump into the Arts; Learn and Grow; and Use the Cardinal Greenway.  You can participate at 3 levels.  First, try one or two activities in each area or “Give it a Go.”  The you can do some more or “Take a Step Further” and “Make it a Habit.”   Download your passport and get started today!

Faculty Mentors: Jane Ellery
Departments: Kinesiology
Community Partner:
Student Team:

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Halteman Park Landscape Architecture Studio Project

In the summer of 2019, the City of Muncie made the bold decision to reclaim the former Halteman Swim Club property and designate it as a new city park. The public space, called Halteman Park, represents the extensive efforts of the Halteman Village Neighborhood Association (HVNA), a Ball State class taught by Professors Chris Baas and Steve Burrows, and the City’s Park Department to turn this abandoned pool area into a green space for residents to enjoy. In this immersive Building Better Neighborhoods project, Landscape Architecture students built on the work of previous studios to develop plans for the site. Early this spring, students conducted a public work session with members of the HVNA, the City of Muncie, and the community at large to strategize, vision, and create actionable steps for future improvements for the property.

REPORT (pdf)

Faculty Mentors: Chris Baas, Jeremy Merrill, J.P. Hall
Departments: Landscape Architecture, Architecture
Community Partners: Halteman Village Neighborhood Association, City of Muncie, Muncie Parks Department
Student Team: Grace DeBaun, Andrea Eageny, Stephanie Gates, Morgan Getz, Kaitlin Gobrogge, Elise Granlund, Emma Hawkins, Jared Heitkamp, Allison Janik, Emilee Lemmer, Meaghan Lessley, Eva Martin, Sophie Moody, Bryce Muller, Drayson Nespo, Keller Oeth, Violet Overstreet, Ciera Silva, Claire Thurlow, Krista Walterbusch

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Academy of Model Aeronautics Foundation Video Project

The Academy of Model Aeronautics is a model aviation association representing more than 195,000 members from every walk of life, income level, and age group. There are more than 2,500 AMA model airplane clubs across the country, and AMA offers its clubs official contest sanction, insurance, and assistance in getting and keeping flying sites. The organization is also the voice of its membership, providing connections with the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, and other government agencies through the national headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. As the organization matures, it was looking for ways to support its infrastructure and programming with an endowment. In this project, students explored how media assets, especially video, could help AMA encourage members to provide financial assistance toward the organization’s future programming, growth, and legacy.

Faculty Mentors: Tim Pollard; Suzanne Plesha
Departments: Telecommunications; Office of Immersive Learning
Community Partner: Academy of Model Aeronautics
Students: Austin Cain, Kendall Gavin, Dennis Healy, Seth Heitmann, Jacob Kemiel, Drew Klawiter, Julian Magana, Kaleb Marr, Mathias Miles, Justin Morris, Fei Pan, Rachel Replogle, Harper Robinson, Max Van Dongen, Andrew Westmoreland, and Braden Whited

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Assigning the Living Quality of Muncie Neighborhoods Using Remote Sensing and GIS

map thumbnail of the neighborhoodSocial well-being and quality of life can be measured using indicators like income, housing, education, health, and the physical environment of an area. In this immersive learning Building Better Neighborhoods project, students evaluated the quality-of-life for residents in the Riverside-Normal City Neighborhood in Muncie. They assessed the living quality for each housing unit in the neighborhood, including the building’s health, physical environment, and its adjacency to community amenities and hazards. Features, such as driving and walking distance to nearest grocery stores, parks, and other amenities, were derived from existing GIS layers or extracted from high-resolution aerial photos in the GIS lab at Ball State University. Additionally, the students used smartphones equipped with thermal infrared cameras to collect information on structure heat loss, road conditions, and lawn health. The students integrated the collected data into a living quality geodatabase of Muncie neighborhoods for further analysis. Explore some of the story maps created using the collected data.

Faculty Mentor: Jason Yang
Department: Geography
Community Partner: Muncie Action Plan
Student Team: William Cape, Nathan Gagnon, Becca Garrett, Elante Ingram, Aaron Jones, Connor Kurtz, Benjamin Lutz, Riley McCreary, Ben Meyer, Patrick Ollier, Nathan Santichen, Jonathan Strang, Erick Wilson, Clay Zeigler

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Study of Lead (Pb) in Muncie (ongoing)

 

Spring 2020: Urban Health in Muncie, IN:  Pb in the Soils

Lead (Pb) is a dangerous neurotoxin especially harmful to children,and residents in Delaware County have blood lead levels testing at three times the national average. A 2018 immersive project mapped locations where blood levels were high and sampled local soils.In this year’s immersive project,“Urban Health in Muncie, IN: Pb in Soils,”students looking for the location of potential lead sources. The goal of the project was for students and the United Way of Delaware, Henry, and Randolph Counties to better understand why, despite proven access to lead-free water, local children have higher-than average blood concentrations of lead.

Faculty Mentors: Carolyn Dowling, Jessi Haeft
Departments: Environment, Geology, and Natural Resources
Community Partners: United Way of Delaware, Henry, and Randolph Counties
Students: Emma Altimus, Brady Andres, Cameron Bell, Joseph Hall, Jordan Lee, Katryn Lods, Patrick Ollier, Erin Powell, Elizabeth Riester, Ignacio Rodriguez, Quentin Simpson, Matt Stickler, Drew Toombs, Luke Vanderveen, and Gunnar Young

Fall 2018: Preliminary Study of Lead (Pb) in Muncie (PSLM)

Lead (Pb) is a persistent neurotoxin, and over 7% of population tested in Muncie and Delaware County has elevated blood lead levels (BLL), ~3x greater than the national average (2.5%). Through research and analysis, students in this project hoped to find the source(s) of lead that is driving these high BLL in Muncie/Delaware County. The students wrote a final report that summarized their high-impact community research project and recommended the next steps to continue the project, and presented their findings to United Way of Delaware County.

Faculty Mentors: Carolyn Dowling, Jessi Haeft
Departments: Geological Sciences, Natural Resources and Environmental Management
Community Partners: United Way of Delaware County
Students: Ben Azar, Allison Bolser, Peter Danzl-Tauer, Chelsea Eickleberry, Maryssa Engstrom, Adeline Evans, Sam Fields, Kerragon Garab, Hannah Gastineau, Adrion Gibson, Henry David Isenberg, Tony Keller, Josh Kiler, Angela Lankford, Jennifer Loyal, Andy Riley,Rose Snyder, Sarah Wilber, Julia Ysidron