Architecture Commons^™

Fairmount Greenway - A Community Initative, Leah H. Bamberger, Liliana Carvajal, Mary F. Dehais, Yuanfang Gong, John E. Hulsey, Eric C. Kells, Kimberley Klosterman, Pamela Jo Landi, Adam G. Monroy, Seth A. Morrow, Bryan O'Bara, Jie Su, Arianna Thompson, Owen M. White

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

This studio was based on the Fairmount Greenway that was developed through a series of public meetings with the neighborhood community and with consultants from the firm Crosby, Schlessinger and Smallridge (CSS). The Fairmount Greenway, while drawing its identity from the traditional greenway model is in fact a reinterpretation of an urban greenway. The greenway path follows along both primary and secondary city streets because of the lack of space along the rail right-of-way. The Fairmount Greenway begins at what will be a new station stop at New Market South Bay near Upham’s Corner in northern Dorchester. The greenway follows …

Gloucester Marine Station: Future Development Feasibility Study, Jack F. Ahern, Ben Eli Webb

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

The study commenced in July 2009 with historical research about the site and its context, site analysis, including the existing conditions and development regulations. This analysis included: topography, soils, vegetation, structures, utilities, easements, property deed, and city, state, and federal regulations. From this analysis an assessment of future development potentials was made based on the existing data/documents from UMass files, public records, Mass GIS data, site visits, and interviews with Gloucester, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and other officials and stakeholders. From the assessment we identified potential future uses, building locations, and feasible alternative layouts of the site. These alternatives were summarily …

Landscape Urbanism For The Highway City Of Springfield North End, Piyawut Inthasorn

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Honors Projects

The expansions of the transportation and roadway have made many cities in the United States having the interstates or highways cut through the city center. Springfield’s North End is one of them. The Interstate highway I-91 from Chicopee to South Spring has separated three North End neighborhoods into two sides; Liberty Height, Memorial Square, and Brightwood. The separation has not only changed community relation but also created many dramatic problems and consequences to the neighborhoods such as having disconnected access to the Connecticut River or the Van Horn Park, creating some pollution in water, air, sound, and other health issues. …

Identifying Cultural Attitudes And Values In Community Landscapes, Elizabeth Brabec

Elizabeth Brabec

Understanding culture and its attitudes and values towards space, place and nature is a critical aspect in determining appropriate approaches to a wide variety of planning actions. Actions such as gaining support for protected areas, designing new developments, and integrating tourism facilities in existing communities all depend on an understanding of cultural norms and values for their success. But understanding the relationship between cultural attitudes and culturally defined space can be difficult, falling prey to the observer’s own cultural norms and biases. This project uses a method based on individual interviews and expert observation of physical traces, to develop an …

Local Surface Water Policy Under Conditions Of Climate Change, Elizabeth Brabec, Elisabeth Hamin, Chingwen Cheng

Elizabeth Brabec

Climate change means two things for local stormwater managers – that storm events will become more severe, and rainfall will, in many instances, become more erratic, causing enhanced periods of drought and flood. Two approaches are needed to deal with the eventualities: mitigation and adaptation.

While urbanization increases stormwater runoff and decreases the lag time of stormwater discharge, there is also a resulting lack of infiltration and reduction in evapotranspiration (Brunke and Gonser 1997). Stormwater detention, retention and infiltration have attempted to compensate, resulting in the concentrated point location infiltration of stormwater, which replenishes groundwater and baseflow. Equally important to …

From The Quadrangle To The River: Revitalizing The Heart Of Downtown Springfield, Mary F. Dehais, Yuanfang Gong, John E. Hulsey, Pamela Jo Landi, Adam G. Monroy, Seth A. Morrow, Alexander G. Seib, Jie Su, Kate A. Tooke, Owen M. White, Emily S. Wright, Kuang Xin, Xiao Zhou

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

This studio report explores community service learning in the graduate urban design studio taught in the in Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and instructed by Professor Frank Sleegers.

The project will began with a visioning workshop, conducted to engage community members in the shaping of project goals and objectives within the project area of downtown Springfield. These findings were brought to the studio and guided the design process and outcomes.

Five design teams developed five alternative master plans for the core area of downtown Springfield with focus on the revitalization of open …

Springfield`S Upper Lyman Warehouse District - Visions For Revitalization, Jane Alexanderr, Andre Belperron, Matt Bent, Nick Betts, Anthony Brow, Will Bunker, Tanya Chesnell, Julie Goodwin, Henry Hess, Christopher Johnson, Ryan Kemmerich, Wes Lomax, Nick Mastroianni, Carl Mccrae, Phil Morrison, James Rebello, Sage Sluter

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

This report documents the work of the Senior Urban Design Studio in Springfield’s Upper Lyman District in downtown Springfield. It is part of the Metro Center neighborhood and adjacent to the Union Station that will be revitalized in 2016. The district is challenged by high vacancies and general abandonment. Housing opportunities and market-rate housing in particular are very low. The primary goal of the project was to develop a staged vision to revitalize and rediscover the Upper Lyman Warehouse District and to improve livability in the heart of downtown Springfield for employers, employees, residents, and visitors. The following recommendations can …

Rethinking Reiche, Tracie J. Reed

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Part I of the study examines the differences between two environmental assessment methods for the K‐12 education sector: the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Schools Version 3.0 and the British Research Establishment’s (BRE) BREEAM Education issue 2.0. Credit requirements are compared side‐by‐side and against recommendations from researchers in areas such as acoustics, lighting and indoor environment quality. Strengths in the two schemes and areas for improvement are highlighted, with acknowledgement that each scheme offers components and techniques from which the other could benefit. Part II of the study introduces the Howard C. Reiche Community School in Portland, Maine. …

Planning For Passenger Rail In Small Cities And Towns, Alyssa R. Larose

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Projects to expand the passenger rail network in the United States will connect major metropolitan areas over long distances, travelling through smaller communities along the way. Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a concept for planning around stations to support transit and allow the development of dense, mixed use, walkable places. TOD literature focuses largely on developing around transit in metropolitan areas. Guidance for small towns and cities in rural areas is lacking.

This thesis compares best planning practices from TOD literature to the planning practices of small cities located in rural areas of New England where new passenger rail service or …

Human Capital In The City: Exploring The Relationship Between Skill And Productivity In Us Metropolitan Areas, Ryan Wallace

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In economics, new growth theory suggests that knowledge creation and innovation are key drivers of growth. As a result, the ‘new economy’ is increasingly reliant upon the knowledge, skills, and abilities embodied in its workforce, also known as human capital, that facilitate the stimulation and generation of new ideas (Romer 1986, 1990 and Lucas 1988). This research contributes to the understanding of the relationship between stocks of human capital and economic output. I construct metrics to measure concentrations of basic worker skills using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and employment estimates for 353 US metropolitan areas. …

Socio-Spatial Constructs Of The Local Retail Food Environment: A Case Study Of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Walter F. Ramsey

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This mixed-methods study addresses the relationship between the availability of food and realized food access by studying the retail food landscape of Holyoke, Massachusetts – a small, socio-economically diverse city. While a large body of empirical research finds that low-income communities and communities of color are especially likely to lack adequate access to healthy foods and experience increased vulnerability to food insecurity, few studies explore urban food environments through a mixed-methods case study approach. Through the use of food store mapping, store audits, and resident interviews, this research is a nascent attempt to articulate how the unique development histories and …

Evaluating Strategies To Create Successful Business Incubators In Massachusetts Gateway Cities, Sonya C. Smith

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis evaluates economic development, planning, public policy, and business strategies to create successful business incubators in Massachusetts’ post-industrial cities. These post-industrial cities in Massachusetts are dubbed “Gateway Cities” because they were once the economic engines of the region as well as areas of entry for many foreign-born residences to live and work. These cities have been recently plagued by high unemployment, poverty, and low business investment as many businesses, especially manufacturing, have located elsewhere. Legislation and policies involving redistribution of wealth to these Gateway Cities has recently been enacted to strengthen these communities. Although there currently isn’t a cohesive …

Economic, Demographic And Housing Trends In 495/Metrowest Region, Henry C. Renski, Kim Mckee

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Using School-Age Populations To Identify Hard-To- Count Populations: A Report To The Secretary Of The Commonwealth, Henry C. Renski, Susan Strate, John Gaviglio, Sonya Smith, Bill Proulx

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

No abstract provided.