Professor Joseph Volpe in the fall of 1994 proposed to graduate student Frank Sleegers a Master project on a visionary design for the riverfront in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. Volpe directed the project and Chaired Sleegers’ Master Committee. This Proposal is an expanded edition of Sleegers’ Master Project, Back to the River – A Visionary Design to Recapture the Riverfront in Downtown Springfield, MA.