Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

Publication Date

Spring 2014

Comments

Graduate Urban Design Studio 2014

Instructors:

Frank Sleegers, Assistant Professor

Michael DiPasquale Extension Assistant Professor

Project location: Springfield, MA.

Edited by: Shu Liu and Frank Sleegers

Abstract

This project presents visions for an underutilized and overlooked district in Springfield, MA, developed by the Graduate Urban Design Studio in the spring of 2014. The area between downtown and the North End neighborhood has undergone major transformations in the 1950’s and 1960’s during America’s era of postwar urban renewal. Residential blocks were replaced by large office buildings and oversized streets left a ”no-man’s land”. The current rehabilitation of the Springfield’s Union Station into an intermodal transportation hub should draw new attention to the area as the northern gateway to downtown - the “Northgate”. Five visionary design proposals rethink and redefine America’s postwar urban renewal and show possible future scenarios to re-imagine and revitalize a unique urban district close to the heart of the City. The design strategies include new urban greenways and recreation, sustainable green infrastructure adaptations, urban agriculture and farming, housing and mixed-use commercial opportunities.

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