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As part of a collaboration with the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG), the Institute for Quality Communities (IQC), the City of El Reno, Michael Höffner, and Emily Fitzsimmons formed a team to research and provide recommendations concerning Sunset Drive, a stretch of Route 66 west of downtown El Reno, Oklahoma.
This project is part of ACOG’s Community Economic Resiliency Iniative (CERI), which was created to help Oklahoma communities develop after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more about CERI and the IQC’s involvement.
Michael Höffner is an affiliate faculty member in the Division of Architecture, a Community Engagement Fellow with the IQC, and principal at höffnerdesignstudio. Emily Fitzsimmons is a graduate student in the Division of Regional + City Planning and a Graduate Assistant with the IQC.
On Sunday December 5, the team hosted a public meeting for community members to share their perspective and hopes for key challenges and opportunities facing Sunset Drive. The meeting took place in the Red Barn of the Canadian County Historical Society Museum. Dozens of participants interacted with a large-format aerial photo of the corridor and held conversations or left notes about important topics.
Major themes from participants included walkability and safety, development and design focused on attracting tourism to El Reno, future projects and development types, and ways of honoring El Reno’s history in the corridor.
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.
