As the debate heats up over what actions should be taken to improve the state of Campustown, a group of students said they think better use of plant-life could spruce up the area.

Twelve students enrolled in Landscape Architecture 421x, advanced planning design, have spent the first half of the semester collecting data about Campustown and the surrounding neighborhoods and intend to write a proposal by the end of the term outlining a plan to improve the area with plant design.

The class presented some of its findings Thursday evening at Crawford Elementary School in an attempt to encourage feedback and suggestions from members of the Ames community.

“We want to come up with a way to increase the quality of experience in Campustown through light and color,” said Julia Badenhope, associate professor of landscape architecture.

Badenhope said plant design, however, involves much more than just trees and flowers.

“Most people assume landscape architecture is just planting petunias around signs,” Badenhope said. “But it’s a kind of infrastructure.”

She said the students in the class have considered aspects of landscaping like shading, snow storage and sidewalk dimensions while putting together their proposal.

Sarah Look, graduate student in architectural landscaping and member of the class, said she hopes the final proposal submitted by the students is implemented in some capacity.

“We’re hoping we’ll submit our proposal to the City Council or some neighborhood organizations,” Look said.

“If nothing else, I hope it at least gets people in Campustown thinking about issues related to plant design,” she said.

She said the project could be funded if neighborhoods around Campustown applied for city grants.

Badenhope said she hopes to teach a Campustown landscape architecture studio next semester that would give students a chance to implement the proposal themselves.

“I want to have this studio so the students can produce a design that they connect to something meaningful,” she said.

Aside from an aesthetic improvement, she said smarter use of plants in Campustown would make hot summers more bearable on the streets and sidewalks. The lack of greenery in Campustown, she said, causes the area to trap heat, making it uncomfortable during the hottest months of the year.

“Ultimately, we want to make it both a more beautiful and comfortable streetscape,” she said.