A team of undergraduate students in Architecture, Urban Planning and Design at the University of Missouri-Kansas City took top honors for a research poster presented at the National Conference of the American Planning Association Conference in San Francisco, California.

The poster entitled “Comparative Urbanisms” was submitted and presented as part of the APA National Conference April 13-16. The research focused on international, comparative and global planning issues. The UMKC student research team included Jared Islas, Adair Bright, Logan Sours, Brad Hocevar, Bryce Morgan, Cristina Aurich, Thomas Meyer, Shana Shanteau and Ryan Deeken.

The UMKC students developed the poster from research completed in the fall semester of 2018 under Associate Professor Jacob A. Wagner, AICP.  The assignment tasked students with a comparative analysis of three creative cities from the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

The students compared the different elements of urbanism, creativity and sustainable development. Twenty-seven UNESCO Network cities were studied including Kansas City and each student reviewed sustainability policies and plans from the respective cities.  Students learned about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of UNESCO and how each city is working to implement these goals.

The mission of the UNESCO Creative City Network is to promote sustainable development through creativity. The seven areas of creativity recognized by UNESCO include crafts and folk arts, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts and music.

Kansas City joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2017 as the first City of Music in the United States. UMKC’s Urban Planning and Design program contributed to the development of the research that led to Kansas City’s membership in the network.

The student research was reviewed by several local professionals active in cultural planning and the arts, including Anita Dixon, cultural advocate and UNESCO Creative City coordinator; Anna Marie Tutera, executive director of the Kansas City Museum; and Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin, fabric artist and co-founder of the African American Artists Collective.

UMKC’s Urban Planning and Design Program prepares students for careers in urban planning and sustainable development through a rigorous curriculum accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board.