Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity
Publication Date
Spring 2020
Abstract
This urban design studio developed concepts around equitable transportation Union Station in Springfield, Massachusetts. The work creates a vision for the Union Station District, a revitalized mixed-use walkable neighborhood adjacent to the restored transportation center. It emphasizes reusing the city’s historic street grid in new, forward thinking ways that enhance neighborhood connectivity. The plan creates physical and social networks that bring together diverse groups of residents and visitors. The Union Station District will be a place that offers a range of non-automobile transportation options to residents and visitors and will help transforming an area characterized by vacant lots and empty buildings into a vibrant, well-connected TOD neighborhood. The Union Station District is envisioned as an active, vibrant place that is accessible and inviting to all.
KEY GOAL AND MISSION OF THE PROJECT:
• Creating a vibrant, connected, equitable neighborhood that reflects Springfield’s diversity
KEY DESIGN AND PLANNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES:
- Creating places that welcome people of color and traditionally underrepresented communities
- Promoting public health and community well-being
- Encouraging bicycling, walking, public transportation and micro-mobility options for all ages including the youth
- Fostering arts/culture and innovation economy for placemaking/economic development
- Creating connectivity and mobility for persons with disabilities
- Provide better connectivity, reusing the existing street grid, and historic infrastructure
- Include strategies that limit impervious surfaces/stormwater to improve local climate
Included in
Environmental Design Commons, Landscape Architecture Commons, Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons
Comments
Professors: Frank Sleegers and Michael DiPasquale, Department of Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning
This project was sponsored through the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development and the City of Springfield in collaboration with the City of Springfield Office of Planning and Economic Development and the UMass Amherst Design Center in Springfield.
“IN THE LOOP” with Jiaqi Guo, Bryce Lloyd-Hahn and Chris Ramage won the “MassINC 2020 Transformative Transit-Oriented Development (TTOD) Planning and Design Competition”