Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture students are collaborating with Hanover College through a Lilly Endowment\u2013funded town\u2013gown partnership with the City of Hanover, Indiana, to advance community-centered improvements connecting campus and town. The initiative began when Barbara Ford, manager of the Community Garden located at the threshold of the Hanover College campus, asked if the Estopinal College of Architecture and Urban Planning could help improve the garden as part of the Lilly grant awarded to Hanover College in partnership with the town.<\/p>\n
Over the summer, department chairs Joe Blalock and John West worked with Chip Snyder of Hanover College to design a series of classes focused on the town\u2013gown connection. Across two semesters, students have applied planning and design strategies to repurpose dilapidated housing, support downtown development, and advance urban agriculture, addressing housing, public space, and long-term community vitality.<\/p>\n
One focus is a two-block underutilized site between the Hanover College campus and downtown. Envisioned as a gateway linking the two communities, the site offers an opportunity to meet the town\u2019s need for additional and affordable housing while creating shared public space. Landscape Architecture students in the Community and Urban Space Design studio, led by Blalock, are developing concepts that integrate housing with a community garden and gathering space, fostering engagement, outdoor learning, and collaboration among students, residents, and local partners.<\/p>\n
Urban Planning students in the Field Studio and Urban Agriculture courses collaborated with the town council to provide a redevelopment plan for Hanover\u2019s town square, outlining strategies to support a community garden, walkability, and economic activity while aligning with the town\u2019s long-term goals. They were mentored by Professors Michael Burayidi and Catherine Reynolds.<\/p>\n
This partnership provides students with hands-on experience in community-based design, combining social impact, sustainability, and real-world application.<\/p>\n
Projects like this exemplify Ball State University\u2019s national standing as one of only 11 colleges and universities in the country to achieve the Carnegie Classification \u201ctriple crown,\u201d recognizing excellence in research, community engagement, and student success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture students are collaborating with Hanover College through a Lilly Endowment\u2013funded town\u2013gown partnership with the City of Hanover, Indiana, to advance community-centered improvements connecting campus and town. The initiative began when Barbara Ford, manager of the Community Garden located at the threshold of the Hanover College campus, asked if the Estopinal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":2176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,30],"tags":[754,736,753],"class_list":["post-2175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landscape","category-planning","category-community-engagement","tag-ball-state-landscape-architecture","tag-ball-state-urban-planning","tag-hanover-college"],"yoast_head":"\n