MUNCIE, Ind. -- Ball State University students’ research on eight moderate- to low-income neighborhoods in Muncie is available to the public on-line and could become a national model.

The Muncie Neighborhood Studies, completed this spring by Ball State’s third-year neighborhood planning studio, can be found on the city’s World Wide Web site at cityofmuncie.com.

"Our efforts produced a new opportunity for neighborhood residents who want to review the data pertinent to their community," said Linda Keys, an associate professor of urban planning who taught the studio during the spring semester with Jeff Bergman, planning director for Franklin, Ind.

Keys also is associate director of Ball State’s Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs.

The project stems from a partnership between Ball State, the city of Muncie and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Muncie’s Community Development Department will use the studies as a basis for its new five-year consolidated plan.

HUD’s Indianapolis office has nominated the students’ extensive community needs assessments and neighborhood profiles for the federal agency’s national Best Practices Award. HUD will honor 100 projects around the country, said Teresa Jeter-Newburn, community builder fellow for HUD.

The 22 urban planning students who participated in the studio spent the semester investigating Muncie’s McKinley, Minnetrista, Whitely, Old West End, East Central, South Central, Industry and Blaine neighborhoods, which are eligible for HUD assistance.

Groups of three and four students each worked with neighborhood leaders and representatives, collected statistical census data, conducted a comprehensive housing condition survey and talked with residents about issues in their neighborhoods.

The studies examined a variety of economic, social and physical issues in the neighborhoods, including demographics, families, homes, employment, poverty, education, recreation, land use, zoning, infrastructure, resources and crime. Every housing unit in the target areas was evaluated, Keys noted.

Web pages designed by the students provide on-line summaries of the information collected on each neighborhood. The complete printed reports can be reviewed at the Muncie Community Development Department in City Hall downtown.

Physical mapping and analysis of the neighborhoods were completed using HUD’s Community 2020 software. The project marks the first time Ball State’s Planning 302 studio has used this mapping software and the World Wide Web in its work.

"The 2020 software transforms somewhat the nature of what the students have to do," said J. Paul Mitchell, urban planning department chair. "The Web allows for an interactive medium, and the community has more potential access to the information."

The Muncie Neighborhood Studies project taught the students about techniques and information management tools involved in neighborhood planning.

"The study emphasized hands-on, real-life interaction with the residents who call the neighborhoods home," the students wrote in their introduction on the Web site.

"The studio firmly believes that a study cannot be validated without the involvement of the people whom the study concerns," the students said. "The guiding principle behind the field of planning, and especially neighborhood planning, is the betterment of the lives of those we touch."

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information about this story, contact Linda Keys at (765) 285-5054 or e-mail: lkeys@bsu.edu.)