Architecture Commons^™

Rural Sustainability In The Intermountain West, Mary L. Oliver

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Assessing the sustainability of communities is important for planners and citizens alike. Sustainability plays a central role in forming healthy, successful communities and in planning for responsible growth and development. Most current sustainability evaluations favor urban environments due to their high densities and resulting efficiencies, leaving rural areas labeled “unsustainable” because of their decentralized growth patterns. Characterized as “not urban,” they fall short of urban sustainability benchmarks (Isserman, 2005). The importance of rural sustainability to both small communities and regions leads to the question: how can rural sustainability be characterized and assessed?

This study applies a comparative assessment model to …

Healthy Placemaking - Revitalizing Springfield's Medical District, Allyson Fairweather, Michael Gagnon, Tianyi Guan, James Mealey, Gwendolyn Stoll, Peter Wackernagel

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

Healthy Placemaking - Revitalizing Springfield’s Medical District

Healthy Placemaking for the North End Medical District was a community engagement urban design studio for Springfield, MA to propose a new vision for the Medical District as an exemplary model of healthy place-making. WHAT IS HEALTHY PLACE-MAKING? Healthy place-making is a creative process that generates an interconnected mixture of amenities that activate the public realm, creating a livelihood that builds upon sense of place. Urban design strategies consider the ecological relationship between people and the environment in order to provide design interventions that improve the mental, physical, social, and economic wellbeing of …

Springfield's Legacy: A Vision For A Transformative Transit-Oriented Union Station District, Keith Benoit, Nigel Cummings, Caitlan Davis, Kinjal Desai, Marcos Gonzalez, Jiaqi Guo, Anna Kellerman, Olivia Ashjian James, Bryce Lloyd-Hahn, Stephen Mccusker, Chris Ramage, Jessica Schottanes

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

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 …

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 …