The University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) is partnering with the Kay County Healthy Living Program to host the Oklahoma Towns: Walkability and Placemaking Summit. The summit will feature workshops and speakers from Kay County and other parts of Oklahoma to highlight real-world examples of changing an environment to promote walkability and placemaking. The summit also will showcase projects and success stories from communities that have created active living environments that are safe and welcome to pedestrians and bicyclists.
The summit will take place June 13-14, 2022, in Ponca City, Oklahoma. There will also be a pre-conference meet-up in Newkirk on June 13th at 5:30 pm. This meet up will highlight the recent virtual reality storytelling project with Trifecta Communications, OU IQC, and Newkirk Main Street.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
