UK/NKAPC Hillside Project

The hills and landscape of Northern Kentucky hold a variety of values and meanings for the people of this community. Land use has been undergoing change. These changes have community implications for quality of life in the short term as well as the long term. Understanding the opportunities and constraints relative to health, safety, and welfare is essential. Public consensus on how to address this change is lacking.

NKAPC has partnered with the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Kentucky to address these changes and begin the process of developing public consensus. Students will engage residents in a public discussion that utilizes, adapts, and enhances methods used elsewhere to generate a variety of solutions potentially suitable for our community. They will use a process that is dependant upon active involvement by the community. Without public involvement, the full potential of this educational process experience will not be achieved—for the students or the community.

This student effort is designed to generate preliminary, conceptual, and practical ideas related to:
(1) understanding public perceptions about hillside issues and values;
(2) identifying critical and threatened hillside areas;
(3) demonstrating and evaluating a variety of land use practices suitable for hillside and other areas; and
(4) exploring the possibilities of identifying additional landscape and community assets which make this region a desirable place to live which may include land use recommendations, implementation of trails and greenways, building and design techniques.

Community participation is a significant aspect of this project. It included: a focus group session involving development professionals, government officials, and environmentalists; a series of three public meetings; and a survey of hillside owners.

This webpage provides access to information and data gathered from these activities. The slide presentations below represent those given by the students during the meetings. The students' final work will be posted here when available.

Meeting One- 2/4/08
Presentation
Survey and Results
Comments of areas to change (represented in yellow on Map1)
Comments of areas to preserve (represented in blue on Map 1)
Map 1- Dot map
Six areas of interest in Kenton County

Meeting Two- 3/19/08
Presentation
Survey
Results
Landscape typology comments

Meeting Three- 4/21/08
Presentation
Survey
Results

For more information or to provide comments, please email jhaverkos(at)nkapc.org

Public survey