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
Social 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. 
