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Engagement in Practice: Vacant Lot Optimization Matrix

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Conference

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Columbus, Ohio

Publication Date

June 24, 2017

Start Date

June 24, 2017

End Date

June 28, 2017

Conference Session

Community Engagement Division Technical Session 5

Tagged Division

Community Engagement Division

Page Count

8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--28242

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/28242

Download Count

592

Paper Authors

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Sydnee Drew Mayers Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem

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Ellen M. Londergan

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Alicia Czarnecki Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem

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Alicia Czarnecki is a senior Environmental Engineering major at the University of Notre Dame. Alicia served as Team Leader for the Summer 2016 Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem intern team. Previously she was an intern for two summers at the City of South Bend Department of Public Works - Division of Engineering. Alicia was recently selected to serve on the new Ecological Advocacy Committee of the South Bend Board of Park Commissioners, and is a member of the 2017 Indiana Watershed Leadership Academy. After graduation, Alicia will be working for Abonmarche, an engineering design firm located in South Bend.

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Jay B. Brockman University of Notre Dame

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Dr. Jay Brockman is the Associate Dean of Engineering for Experiential Learning and Community Engagement. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and previously worked for Intel Corporation. He is also a founder of Emu Solutions, Inc., a startup company that is commercializing research in the area of high-performance computing.

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Gary Allen Gilot P.E. University of Notre Dame

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Gary A. Gilot is the Director of Engineering Leadership and Community Engagement at the College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Gary is a Fellow at the University Center for Social Concerns.

Gary earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University in Upstate New York (1978), and Masters in Business Administration from Indiana University at South Bend (1985). He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Indiana (since 1982).

Gary continues to serve as President of Board of Public Works in South Bend which has management oversight for the municipality.

Gary previously served as Director of Public Works and President of Board of Public Works in South Bend and Elkhart, Indiana for a combined 30 years.

Gary remains actively engaged in the community. Locally, Gary was recognized for distinguished public service by the South Bend Alumni Association. On a statewide level of recognition, Gary is a recipient of the Ivan H. Brinegar municipal management award through the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns. Nationally in August, 2010, Gary was selected as the nation's 2010 “Public Works Leader of the Year” by American City & County magazine for technology innovation.

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Victoria E. Goodrich University of Notre Dame

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Dr. Victoria Goodrich is the Director of the First-Year Engineering Program at the University of Notre Dame. She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Notre Dame. Her research focuses primarily on Engineering Education issues, especially focused within the first-year engineering experience.

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Mary Hergenrother

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Adrienne Bruggeman Saint Mary's College

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Adrienne Bruggeman is a senior undergraduate student who is obtaining dual-degrees in chemistry and environmental engineering from Saint Mary's College and the University of Notre Dame, respectively.

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Abstract

The Vacant Lot Optimization (VLO) Matrix began as a project for the University X Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Boeing Team Tech Competition. The SWE Team initially developed project ideas that were brought to a neighborhood association in the Southeast Neighborhood of City Y, a mid-size city in the midwest. Through active listening and open communication, the team’s preconceived notions gave way to a customer-driven participatory design approach involving planning the project with the neighbors, rather than doing it to or for them. Through an iterative process of voting and creating decision matrices that juxtaposed team skills and interests with neighborhood needs and wants, the VLO Matrix project was selected. In response to City Y’s initiative which aimed to repair or demolish vacant and abandoned houses across the City transforming blighting influence negatives to neutral, the VLO Matrix defines and prioritizes a plan for reuse to take vacant lots from neutral to positive to benefit the neighborhood. Over the 2015-2016 academic year, the team used a geographical information system (ArcGIS) to integrate technical, economic and social factors contributing to the optimal reuse strategy for each vacant lot. During a 2016 summer internship program, a comprehensive field verification of matrix data was conducted. The VLO Matrix will be calibrated by expert city planners to verify solution viability, and additional neighborhood survey data will be collected to obtain current community perspective regarding vacant lots in their neighborhood. Housing market research and costs of reuse options will be added into the economic layer to provide financial parameters. The end goal of developing the VLO Matrix is to provide an accessible user interface that allows city planners, neighborhood associations and community developers to support decisions regarding future projects related to redeveloping vacant lots.

Mayers, S. D., & Londergan, E. M., & Czarnecki, A., & Brockman, J. B., & Gilot, G. A., & Goodrich, V. E., & Hergenrother, M., & Bruggeman, A. (2017, June), Engagement in Practice: Vacant Lot Optimization Matrix Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28242

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