Architecture Commons^™

Water Wise Landscape Practices: A Case Study For The City Of Gering, Christina E. Land

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

This professional project is founded on my education, experiences, and networks. I have had the opportunity to use what I have learned thus far and be challenged to look at public planning from a different perspective. In partnership with the City of Gering I was able to get knee deep in the facility planning of the city owned property which is home to the Community Ever Green House. The project reviews how the property is integrated into the community and the impact it has. Then, identifies opportunities to improve overall functionality with a closer look at addressing hazard mitigation using …

A Systematic Review On The Ecosystem Services Provided By Green Infrastructure, Daniel Jato-Espino, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro, Vanessa Moscardó, Leticia Bartolome Del Pino, Fernando Mayor-Vitoria, Laura Gallardo, Patricia Carracedo, Kristin Dietrich

Faculty Publications

Urbanization and climate change are endangering the sustainability of public spaces through increased land artificialization, ecological fragmentation, reduced resource availability, and limited accessibility to natural and seminatural areas. Properly managing Green Infrastructure (GI) can contribute to mitigating these challenges by delivering multiple provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural Ecosystem Services (ES). This would facilitate the implementation of strategically planned GI networks in cities for urban regeneration purposes. In this context, this study developed a systematic review on the ES provided by GI using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. The analysis of 199 eligible articles indicated …

Knitting Together Communities - Designing The Heart Of Six Corners And Old Hill, Samantha Bowman, Ankur Choudhary, Alexandria Connell, Megan Davey, Katina Decoulos, Richard Duhamel, Brooklyn Feng, Ian Finn, Doreen Guan, Sophia Liquori, Connor Moloney, Claudia Namaroff, Emily Noonan, Hunter Proulx, Stephen Rezendes, Maura Robitaille, Vincent Shu, Jaques Skriletz, Frank Sleegers

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

Knitting together Communities -Designing the Heart of Six Corners and Old Hill

Knitting Together Communities – Designing the Heart of Six Corners and Old Hill provides a framework to knit together assets and opportunities for creating a strong identity and sense of coherence for a transformative urban district in Springfield, MA. The Senior Urban Design Studio 2019 created six proposals that were searching for design opportunities that enhance the aesthetic quality of the neighborhood and increase services for the wellbeing of the residents. The two neighborhoods are characterized by strong neighborhood leadership through committed residents, community centers and active religious …

Green Infrastructure For Framingham, Massachusetts: Greenway Planning And Cultural Landscape Design, Aqsa Butt, Justin Cooper, Matthew Crosby, Elyse Couture, Valerie Degroote, Andrew Duncan, Caroline Fay, Adam Fearing, Russell Greene, Mark Gullifer, Bladimir Hernandez, Daniel Keirstead, Christopher Johnson, John Milos, Jing Pan, Benjamin Perrett, Rebecca Jean Walton

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

The senior undergraduate, Bachelors of Landscape Architecture studio at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst developed a town-wide greenway plan for the Town of Framingham’s Department of Community and Economic Development. This conceptual plan connects the town’s natural, cultural, and recreational resources through a network of pedestrian and bike trails. This plan also seeks to connect the diverse neighborhoods within the Town to these resources and provide alternative means of local residents to access jobs, schools, and retail centers. The greenway plan builds on Framingham’s Open Space and Recreation Plan (2013), which identified the need for a regional greenway system to …

Darndale Park Report, Ciaran Cuffe, Daniel Blanchfield, Andrea Culjak, Meadhbh Ní Lochlainn, Orla Gilleece, Lin Zhao, Niall Thomas, John Lucey, Zainab Mansary

Students Learning with Communities

No abstract provided.

Greening Worcester: Planning And Designing Green Infrastructure Networks For Habitat, Recreation, And Landscape Interpretation:, Meilan Chen, Zhuoya Deng, Ericka Duym, Matthew R. Hisle, Laura Keskula, Joseph Larico, Bin Liu, Shu Liu, Wenjie Liu, Tharyn S. Nein-Large, Junbo Zhang

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

This graduate studio focused on the creating green infrastructure networks in Worcester, Massachusetts which is the second most populated city in Massachusetts. The studio worked in conjunction with the EcoTarium, an innovative science museum in Worcester in order to link the City’s rich cultural, historic, and academic resources across a densely populated urban region; and expand opportunities for local residents to learn about urban ecology in their own neighborhoods. The studio project builds on the City’s open space plan goals by planning improved access to water resources, increased connectivity between existing parks and open space, and safer bicycle and pedestrian …

Volunteered Geographical Information: An Alternative Solution For Overcoming The Chasm Between Stormwater Management And Community Participation, Yanfu Zhou

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

It is a dramatic challenge to promote public engagement in stormwater management and green infrastructure initiatives. When traditional outreach approaches made important influence on public engagement, their limitations are also obvious. With the development of Web 2.0 technology, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has been emerging as one of the most important user-generated geographic contents. The crowdsourcing data that generated by volunteers through geo-web, smartphones, and other geo-devices provides invaluable mass data for decision-making. VGI can provide a better understanding of planning issues and other challenges. The research aims to develop a mobile information platform to allow citizens to report the …

Syllabus: Sustainable Green Infrastructure Planning And Design, Robert L. Ryan

Sustainability Education Resources

Green infrastructure planning requires a systems approach to improving ecological function while providing vital ecosystem services for human populations. This course will introduce students to the concepts, theories, and applications of greenway and green infrastructure planning at multiple scales, including the site-level, neighborhood, and regional scales. A particular area of focus will be the relationship of green infrastructure for improving hydrology and riparian corridors as part of comprehensive green space planning for recreation and cultural resources. The course will look at a wide range of systems including water, transportation, and food systems. A case study approach will be used to …

The Cost Of Green Infrastructure: Worth The Investment?, Martha Sheils

Green Infrastructure

Is GI worth the investment?

• LID techniques often lead to cost savings when we look at WHOLE PROJECT COSTS

• Natural Infrastructure investments for flood control, drinking water protection and wildlife habitat can yield SIGNIFICANT AVOIDED COSTS and additional co-benefits to communitites

Ipswich River Watershed - Planning And Designing Green Infrastructure Networks, Samantha R. Anderson, Alyssandra Black, Ngoc Xuan Doan, Trudy M. Hall, Keith W. Hannon, Irene Estelle Miller, Colin N. O'Donnell, Amanda Lynn Rookey, Yan Xu

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

This project focuses on the Ipswich River Watershed in the suburbanizing North Shore region of metropolitan Boston. The Ipswich River is one of the most threatened rivers in the United States due to increased development and drinking water withdrawals from neighboring towns that impact the water quality and quantity. In order to address these environmental issues, this studio developed a green infrastructure plan for the watershed that proposes protecting open space within water resource areas, preserving wildlife habitat areas, and creating recreational linkages. Each student in the course developed a focus area at the local scale to illustrate implementing green …

Sustainable Water Management On Brownfields Sites, Ryan Fenwick, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This practice guide was developed by the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Through a cooperative agreement with HUD, EFCN is providing capacity building and technical assistance to recipients of grants from the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an interagency collaboration that aims to help towns, cities, and regions develop in more economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable ways.

Green Infrastructure Resource Directory, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

Green infrastructure is an approach for managing stormwater that uses vegetation and soils to capture and treat rainwater where it falls. Unlike single-purpose gray infrastructure, green infrastructure realizes multiple benefits at once, including flood mitigation, improved water and air quality, community beautification, provision of recreational opportunities, and energy and cost savings. This resource directory is intended to help communities design, implement, fund, and monitor green infrastructure practices and programs. It was compiled by the Environmental Finance Center Network through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. …

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 3, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

This report is the third in a series of efforts by students at the Muskie School of Public Service, Community Planning and Development Master’s program, in a core class called “Sustainable Communities.” In this course students seek to understand principles of sustainability and how efforts to implement Sustainability programs can become more successful. The report assembles term papers students completed on particular efforts by municipalities, universities, and other groups to achieve sustainability goals. Students worked on each project in a service learning format with real world clients. They were asked to fashion their papers around lessons learned by other organizations …

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 2, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

The Portland Municipal Climate Change Working Group prepared a report in March 2008 that outlined several recommendations as a commitment by the City to address greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced during daily municipal operations. The Municipal Climate Action Plan was written in partnership with Clean Air – Cool Planet and Portland officials, and acknowledges under Recommendation #2 that an employee energy efficiency program would provide significant positive impact on the City’s reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Best practices from three cities show that focus on the greening of City Hall is critical in developing a program that promotes partnerships, community …

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 1, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

When the Sustainable Portland Task Force Report was released in November 2007, under the leadership of Mayor Jim Cohen, Portland Councilor Kevin Donoghue had the idea that students at the Muskie School of Public Service might be able to help implement recommendations from the report. It may have helped that Kevin was himself a graduate of the Community Planning and Development Master’s program at the Muskie School, but it was a good idea nevertheless. He approached Professor Sam Merrill in the CPD program, who spoke with the new Mayor Ed Suslovic about a possible partnership between the City and the …

Selected Lid Projects In New England, New England Environmental Finance Center

Planning

Examples of low impact development (LID) projects in each state in New England.

Promoting Low Impact Development In Your Community, New England Environmental Finance Center

Planning

Low Impact Development (LID) is an approach to stormwater management and site development that is gaining popularity throughout the country. Its attractiveness lies in its potential to lessen off-site stormwater impacts, reduce costs to municipalities and developers, and promote development that is “softer on the land” compared with typical traditional development. The approach, which is applicable to residential, commercial and industrial projects, and in urban, suburban and rural settings, often is linked with efforts by governments and citizens to foster more sustainable communities.