4 research outputs found
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Creating Livable Neighborhoods in Old Hill and Six Corners, Springfield, Massachusetts
This report documents the work of the Graduate Urban Design Studio in Springfield’s Old Hill and Six Corners neighborhoods with 12,000 inhabitants. Both neighborhoods are challenged by a very low average household income, housing foreclosures, lot vacancies, lack of substantial home ownership, high traffic volumes and poor quality of open space. The primary goal of the project was to develop a vision to renew Old Hill and Six Corners to improve livability for their residents and create new opportunities for housing, recreation, working and commercial activities. Crucial keys to attaining this goal will be creating a stronger sense of place throughout the neighborhood and improved connectivity to the existing public open spaces like the Watershops Pond and the proposed recreational trail “Arc of Recreation”. Four physical design objectives were explored: Creating a vision for livable streets - a more livable streetscape improves walkability, urban ecology, commercial activities and provides an enriching sensual experience. Creating a better physical environment for commercial and business activities – attractive streets create a new identity and support existing businesses. Creating and improving a pedestrian and bicycle oriented circulation and coherent public open space system. Exploring new housing opportunities - new sites for housing integrate the student population in the neighborhoods.
We are proud that our proposals were recognized after a tornado hit Springfield in June 2011. REBUILDSPRINGFIELD targeted the tornado-impacted neighborhoods in a collaborative effort with engaged citizens and community groups. Our plans created a valuable planning and design framework to rebuild the City
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Greyfield Adaptive Re-use: Applying a matrix of contemporary theory to a real site in Springfield, MA
New neighborhood and home construction since World War II has been rapid and sprawling. Development companies have used increasingly efficient modular plans and construction techniques to design, grade, and construct sub-divisions across the country with little regard for vernacular landscape or a sense of place. Salmon-colored stucco homes in Ladera Ranch, California could be confused with those in Tucson, Arizona, which look just like communities in Homestead, Florida. Rows and cul de sacs of houses with duplicate floorplans, similar color and finish with standard foundation plantings and landscaping blur into one another, and it becomes impossible to place oneself because the surroundings lack distinct identifying characteristics. The suburbs become a place of weak and distended sensations, few and far between emotions (Koolhaas 1994, 218). A sense of place and belonging is lost to the generic city.
Amongst the milieu of suburban development - in fact, at the core of it - are first ring suburbs. Built between 1947 and 1977, first ring suburbs consist primarily of single family, freestanding homes. Within and adjacent to these communities are retail and commercial strips and malls, initially constructed to serve residents and generate revenue. Despite their initial success, shopping centers in first ring suburbs are becoming obsolete in the face of newer, larger shopping areas constructed nearby (Bodzin 2001, 76). Facing obsolescence and declining revenue, these strip malls and shopping centers are closing their doors. The spaces left as these centers close have been termed greyfields: underutilized places in between brownfields and greenfields, often derelict shopping centers and strip commercial sites surrounded by seas of asphalt. (Gamble 2005, 18) These greyfields are ripe for reuse: there is an opportunity to take advantage of their space and underlying infrastructure in an adaptive reuse of otherwise abandoned spaces in a fully-developed first ring suburb.
A design intervention into the fabric of these dead spaces can imbue them with public benefit and a sense of place. Seas of asphalt can give way to public open space and improve the hydrologic health of the community through infiltration while providing opportunities for recreation and pedestrian activity. Centrally located open space provides opportunities for people to gather, rest, and interact with their neighbors. Existing buildings can provide public services such as libraries and city offices, also incorporating economic benefits to the community with small retail spaces for locally owned restaurants and shops
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McGrath Corridor - A vision for the future in Somerville, MA
Project Goals
This project seeks to create opportunities for green connections and city beautification along the McGrath Highway corridor. Key directives are: • Build greenway connections including pedestrian path and bike lanes • Increase open space • Minimize storm water flows and create on site infiltration through green infrastructure. • Improve tree canopy • Enhance economic growth and revitalization The studio’s primary goal is to plan this urban greenway project at multiple scales. The studio synthesizes information about natural features, recreation resources, and development patterns to create a green infrastructure network that addresses the unique problems and opportunities of the study area. Moreover, the studio focuses on finding innovative strategies for enhancing green space in the city, creating urban wildlife habitats, improving recreation access, and enhancing environmental quality
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Western Woburn Greenway Study
In spring 2010, the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was asked to complete a landscape planning study, the “Western Woburn Greenway Study” for the City of Woburn, MA. The study was undertaken by a team of graduate students, supervised by Professor Jack Ahern. The goals of that study are as follows.
The City of Woburn currently has two large parcel groups of undeveloped land, Whispering Hill (the north focus area) and Winning/Shannon Farms (the south focus area) that are, or may become, available for acquisition (see “Scope of Project” below). The first goal of the study was to analyze these focus areas and conduct suitability assessments for potential land uses that meet the needs of the residents of Woburn, as well as meet the goals specified by the town’s 2004 Open Space and Recreation Plan. The analysis and land use recommendations could be used by the city in current and future land acquisition decisions.
The second goal of the study was to evaluate strategies and actions for connecting these focus areas with linkages to each other, to other existing open spaces in Woburn, and to other green spaces in neighboring towns. These linkages could be obtained with Green Streets an