Landscape Architecture Commons^™

The Industrial Park: A Landscape-Based Vision For The Turners Falls Canal District, Josiah Simpson

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

This design study examines the history and economic context that defines Turners Falls as a de-industrialized mill town. It reviews the social, economic, locational, physical, and historical obstacles the town has faced redeveloping the mill buildings within its Canal District and proposes a landscape-based approach for addressing redevelopment. Landscape redevelopment is offered as an alternative to traditional redevelopment of buildings for non-affluent mill towns, like Turners Falls, because the costs associated with landscape upgrades are much lower and can provide multifunctional and multi-purpose spaces for many types of people. Additionally, it is a pathway for inviting community involvement that allows …

The Industrial Park: A Landscape-Based Vision For The Turners Falls Canal District, Josiah Simpson

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

This design study examines the history and economic context that defines Turners Falls as a de-industrialized mill town. It reviews the social, economic, locational, physical, and historical obstacles the town has faced redeveloping the mill buildings within its Canal District and proposes a landscape-based approach for addressing redevelopment. Landscape redevelopment is offered as an alternative to traditional redevelopment of buildings for non-affluent mill towns, like Turners Falls, because the costs associated with landscape upgrades are much lower and can provide multifunctional and multi-purpose spaces for many types of people. Additionally, it is a pathway for inviting community involvement that allows …

Not Parking Lots But Parks: A Joint Association Of Parks And Transit Stations With Travel Behavior, Keunhyun Park, Dong-Ah Choi, Guang Tian, Reid Ewing

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Urban design literature says that public open space in a station area could promote walking and other types of physical activity, enhance place attractiveness, and increase property values. In the context of station areas, however, there is a lack of empirical studies on the relationship between the presence of parks and sustainable travel behavior, which is one of the primary goals of transit-oriented developments (TODs). This study examined the impact of park provision on transit users’ mode choice in three U.S. regions: Atlanta (GA), Boston (MA), and Portland (OR). This study utilized multilevel multinomial logistic regression to account for hierarchical …

Street Life And The Built Environment In An Auto-Oriented Us Region, Keunhyun Park, Reid Ewing, Sadegh Sabouri, Jon Larsen

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Urban planners and designers believe that the built environment at various geographic scales affects pedestrian activity, but have limited empirical evidence at the street scale, to support their claims. We are just beginning to identify and measure the qualities that generate active street life, and this paper builds on the first few studies to do so. This study measures street design qualities and surrounding urban form variables for 881 block faces in Salt Lake County, Utah, and relates them to pedestrian counts. This is the largest such study to date and includes suburbs as well as cities. At the neighborhood …

The Deerfield Street Initiative (Greenfield, Ma), Sarah Crowley, Grace Mccab, Toriellen Swistak, Alec Wade, August Williams-Eynon

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

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

For the fall 2018 Planning Studio, the Town of Greenfieldtasked the Masters of Regional Planning Studio to prepare …

Imagine Community, Imagine Home (Chicopee, Ma), Christian Appia, Francesca Cigliano, Jenna Davis, Greg Labombard, Kristen Whitmore, Simeng Zhang

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

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

For the fall 2018 Planning Studio, Chicopee tasked the Masters of Regional Planning Studio to prepare a Housing …

Measuring Landscape Performance: Case Study Investigation, Hannah Michelle Lopresto, Brandon Zambrano, Catherine De Almeida

UCARE Research Products

Participating in the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s 2018 Case Study Investigation has been an incredibly informative experience for our research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We are eager to shine a spotlight on the landscape performance of two Great Plains projects: P Street Corridor, a revitalized downtown streetscape in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park, a waterfront redevelopment in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Working on the post-occupancy study of both projects has been extremely beneficial in understanding how reclaiming underutilized sites can create high-performing landscapes. Both are public projects in urban settings with primary goals of transforming formerly unpleasant, …

Chinese Garden Of Friendship And Sydney’S Chinatown : Friendship And Something Beyond At Darling Harbor, Wendy W. Tan

Publications and Research

Chinese Garden of Friendship was a gift from China; Sydney’ Chinatown is a Chinese Australian community, and they are adjacent to each other at Darling Harbor of Sydney, Australia. The author made visits there to witness their beauties. Besides, she also explored other connections—friendship; Feng Shui; and cultural diversity within these two famous tour sites.

Envisioning Resilience & Revitalization In The Apremont Triangle Neighborhood, Andrew Capelluti, Allison Gramolini, Maggie Kraus, Sara Lawler, Mimi Lo, Kate O'Connor, Doug Serrill, Alysha Thompson, Diance Tian

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

ENVISIONING RESILIENCE AND REVITALIZATION IN THE APREMONT TRIANGLE NEIGHBORHOOD

This urban design studio partnered with the City of Springfield to investigate the complexity of issues facing the Apremont Triangle neighborhood within the metro district and develop a range of conceptual designs. The studio focused on developing ideas that improve the livability of the neighborhoods, walkability of streets, and improve the environmental and economic health of the neighborhood. Resiliency in this context means that the neighborhood strives for a social and physical balance.

The Studio began by conducting an inventory and analysis of cultural, economic, and ecological factors that influence the …

Envisioning The South End Of Tomorrow: Live, Work And Recreate In A Transforming Neighborhood, Chris Alpay, Leanne Blue, Jon Bronenkant, Hao Fang, Anthony Gemma, Rachel Guilfoil, Silke Henstebeck, Barbara Lampson, Andrew Libby, Kyle Nevarro, Karina Ramos, Stephen Roach, Genevieve Shepard, Jasmine Su

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

ENVISIONING THE SOUTH END OF TOMORROW – Live, Work and Recreate in a Transforming Neighborhood

Background and Challenges

Downtown Springfield is currently undergoing a substantial change of the physical urban fabric. The most visible examples are the construction of the MGM Casino Resort and the renovated Union Station into a multimodal transportation hub. The MGM Casino Resort is the first one in the country that is integrated in a core downtown area. It is obvious that downtown and its adjacent districts will change substantially. How can different uses next to each other coexist productively or can negative influences be being …

How Useful Is Gsv As An Environmental Observation Tool? An Analysis Of The Evidence So Far., Katherine Nesse, Leah Airt

SPU Works

Researchers in many disciplines have turned to Google Street View to replace pedestrian- or carbased in-person observation of streetscapes. It is most prevalent within the research literature on the relationship between neighborhood environments and public health but has been used as diverse as disaster recovery, ecology and wildlife habitat, and urban design. Evaluations of the tool have found that the results of GSV-based observation are similar to the results from in-person observation although the similarity depends on the type of characteristic being observed. Larger, permanent and discrete features showed more consistency between the two methods and smaller, transient and judgmental …

Geological Principles Illustrated In The Art Along The Antelope Valley Hiker/Biker Trail – The Big X (Salt Creek Roadway/Antelope Valley Parkway) South To Q Street, Robert Diffendal, Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

When the weather is good (and even sometimes when it isn’t) I occasionally walk around the periphery of the UNL city campus, often over the lunch hour, now that the trails and the sidewalks allow one to walk a complete circuit. The walk along Antelope Creek from the Big X to Q Street is beautiful. The designers of the project made nice art works on the floor of the creek and on the retaining walls on the valley sides that add to the beauty of nature.

I am a geologist and wondered about some of the art and its meaning …

Springfield Climate Action & Resiliency Plan Vulnerability And Resilience, Elisabeth Hamin, August Williams-Eynon, Catherine Ratte

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

No abstract provided.

Stitching Together The Urban Fabric, Tyler Gaudreau, James Goode, Samantha Hampton, John Haryasz, William Jurczyk, Eric Kadziolka, Daniel Kossack, Keira Lee, Matthew Pilis, Preston Rowan, Chinda Samms, Devon Vendetti, Yifei Yan

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

This Urban Design Studio in Springfield focused on incremental and systemic design changes at specific places in Downtown to improve the quality of life. The analysis investigated six interweaving, overlapping urban systems: Music and Art, Food and Retail, Working, Public Green, Education and Housing. Overlooked streets and their immediate context were of major focus: Worthington Street, Dwight Street, Willow Street and the stilted Interstate 91 viaduct.

Downtown Springfield is currently undergoing a substantial change of the physical urban fabric: The renovation of the Union Station into a multi-modal transportation hub, the MGM Casino Resort and the new Dr. Seuss Museum …

Restoring The Heart: A Community Vision For The Neighborhood Of Aldenville, Nicholas Campbell, Eric D. Gemperline, Todd R. Horner, Sean G. O'Donnell, Sierra T. Pelletier, Seth Taylor, Keitlin Young

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

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

For the Fall 2017 Planning Studio, Chicopee tasked the Masters of Regional Planning Studio to prepare a vision …

Future Oriented Sustainable Design. Design Purpose: What Is Design And Who Is It For? [Please Note: This Is A Large File And May Be Slow To Download.], Barry Sheehan

Academic Articles

In November 2016 I was asked to make a presentation at the Future Oriented Sustainable Design International Conference in Wuhan in the People's Republic of China. My topic was Design Purpose: What is Design? And who is it for?

The presentation examines the wider aspects of design and its categories and asks who were are actually designing for.

I made a powerpoint presentation that I narrated in English whilst it was simultaneously translated into Chinese for the attendees at the conference. On my return to Ireland I created a soundtrack to accompany the presentation slides for people to watch the …

Networks Of Opportunity: Public Engagement Survey Results, Sammi S. Gay, Derek J. Krevat, Stephanie Carlisle, Justin Gilmore, Gianpaula Hulten, Alexandra 'Ola' Smialek

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

The Project for Public Spaces notes, “People who use a public space are the ones who know, from experience, which areas are dangerous and why, which spaces are comfortable, where traffic moves too quickly and how certain aspects of a space could be improved” (2011, p. 13). Therefore, public engagement was a core part of our project. As previously stated, one major objective of this project is to propose safer paths to school for students. This objective stems from the fact that no bus services are provided to children who live within 1 mile of an elementary school, 1.5 miles …

Networks Of Opportunity: A Citywide Vision For Pedestrian And Bicycle Pathways In Chicopee, Massachusetts, Stephanie Carlisle, Ambica Chadha, Daniel Fontaine, Sammi Gay, Justin Gilmore, Gianpaula Hulten, Derek Krevat, Shuo Li, Alexandra ‘Ola’ Smialek, Melody Tapia

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

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

In the fall of 2016, the City of Chicopee gave the Regional Planning Studio four directives that aim …

Powering Forward: A Vision For The Turners Falls Canal District, Desiree Demski-Hamelin, Kellie Fenton, Brett Gallagher, Kenneth Kirkland, Jeremy Price

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

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

In the fall of 2016, the Town of Montague’s Department of Planning and Conservation gave the Regional Planning …

Collaborating With Catastrophe | A User's Guide To Post-Apocalyptic Farming, Patricia Cafferky

Architecture Senior Theses

“Collaborating with Catastrophe” contends that architecture has the capacity to visually manifest unseen forces through design’s reaction to them, allowing people to more fully comprehend and engage the intangible. Climate change, arguably the largest threat to modern day humanity, is not visible, existing only as a collection of data and patterns in a statistical construct. Taking stock of the present day failings of society in the face of crisis, this thesis then extrapolates a potential future dystopia precipitated by man-made pollutants in order to engage the problem at its most severe. Architecture is then able to make the toxic visible …

Other Wildernesses, Other Realities | A Framework For Shrinking Cities, Alyssa Goraieb

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis is an experiment to imagine the possible realities that emerge from a redefining of the "idea of wilderness".

Wilderness is an idea.

Its definition is slippery. It is neither a physical place nor a state of being (as the "-ness" suggests). Wilderness is a human construct defined by varying cultural and social attitude. This fluid meaning drove numerous paradigms throughout American history - from eighteenth century romanticism's sublime doctrine to today's environmentalism.

Inspired by past American paradigms, this thesis invents five other wilderness ides that exist as a parallel alternatives to our own. Each produces a …

Absorbency In Tidal Resiliency | The Thickened Pier, Shauna Strubinger

Architecture Senior Theses

The inevitable truth of climate change has placed coastal cities at great risk. Past natural disasters in the United States such as Hurricane Sandy and Katrina, displaced many people because these communities’ only protection was their failed infrastructure.1 Although hard and soft infrastructure strategies have addressed the rising sea level, architecture at the building scale creates static surfaces and divisions that are slow to adapt to flooding and leave little to no room for the ambiguity of tidal flooding and storm surge. Though numerous areas are at risk of sea level rise across the globe, the Chesapeake Bay area is …

A New Vision For An Old Institution: Addressing The Challenges For Urban And Peri-Urban Agriculture At The Waltham Experiment Station, Kevin C. Hartzell

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

Urban and peri-urban agriculture has a new place in (sub)urban landscapes because of the suite of ecosystem services it can provide including, but not limited to; increased local food production, waste recycling, stormwater infiltration, and reconnecting urban dwellers to their food source. The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Waltham Experiment Station, located in Waltham, Massachusetts, is poised for redevelopment as a model for multi-use urban agriculture production, research, and education as well as a living laboratory to monitor and document the ecosystem services provided to the surrounding community. This project will focus on educational and research categories within the theme of …

Claiming Market Place, Michael J. Abate, Alex Hentnik, Cameron J. Roach, Christopher M. Rucinski, Taylor Shulda, Nicholas Mcmenamin, Andrew Woodward

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

CLAIMING MARKET PLACE UMass Amherst Design Center in Springfield

Department of Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning

The Senior Urban Design Studio developed a tangible vision for the revitalization of downtown Springfield through creating ideas for the underutilized Market Place block and reconnect it to the urban fabric. We carried out small-scale, temporary urban design installations as wayfinding interventions in the spirit of “tactical urbanism”. These interventions had a real target: the students’ work supported the opening of the Holiday Market in the Market Street block from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The interventions were taken one step further with the development of …

Sustainable Architecture Design: Environmental And Economic Benefits, Michael Babcock

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the movement of environmentalism, and its impact on architecture and construction. During an interview with a professional architect, a basis for research of sustainable design was devised, when he explained that “good” architecture attempts to holistically integrate the external and built environment. Presently, the main measurement for sustainability is energy efficiency. Therefore, architects constantly implement new technology in an attempt to unify both the external and built environment in an energy efficient manner. Furthermore, this thesis provides an environmental and financial cost analysis of implementing sustainable design and build. Research shows that the life cycle and up-front …

Umass Amherst Green Building Guidelines V.2 And Leedv4, Kylie A. Landrey, Ted Mendoza, Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, Mohamad Farzinmoghadam, Somayeh Tabatabaee, Nariman Mostafavi, Ray Kinoshita Mann, Jeffrey Dalzell, Ajla Aksamija

Campus Planning Reports and Plans

Facilities & Campus Services supports sustainability and energy conservation initiatives by providing in-house resources to campus staff as well as designers, contractors and other consultants working with the University. The UMass Amherst Green Building Guidelines v2 and LEED v4 provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED v4 certification by focusing the conversation on those green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance …

Greening Cities In An Urbanizing Age: The Human Health Bases In The Nineteenth And Early Twenty-First Centuries, Theodore S. Eisenman

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Faculty Publication Series

Defined here as the introduction or conservation of outdoor vegetation in cities, urban greening has bloomed during periods of intensive urbanization. This was true in the nineteenth century and it seems to be the case again today, as a range of greening practices is co-arising during a third, and perhaps final, period of global urbanization. Human health has been a recurring theme underlying the enduring aspiration to integrate nature with city. Using change over time as a conceptual frame, this paper offers a comparative assessment of municipal greening in the nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries, focusing on the potential implications …

Planning A Greenway Network For The “Impressions From A Lost World” Exhibit, Kellie Fenton, Tasuku Kamei, Yue Li, Yanhua Lu, Maozhu Mao, Emilie Marques Jordao, James Prendergast, Michalagh C. Stoddard, Ruoying Tang, Jing Wang, Nelle Katharine Ward, Yuqing Yang, Yi Yang, Yu Yu

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

This report describes a proposed multi-modal greenway network that links dinosaur-related sites in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The study conducted by the fall 2015 MLA studio at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst included assessment and design work at regional, sub-regional, and site scales. The proposed Dinosaur Trail Project greenway network was designed to incorporate the goals of the client, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, a historical and cultural organization based in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The project will help preserve, interpret, and highlight the rich history of dinosaur track discovery in the region for future generations.

Open Space & Food Access In The City Of Chicopee, Madison M. Burke, Angelica L. Carey, Nicholas M. Fournier, Marika Kopp, Amanda M. Lipson, Jennifer M. Pacacha, Shannon M. Rice-Nicols

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

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

In the fall of 2015, the City of Chicopee contracted the MRP Studio to create a vision plan …

Routes To The Renaissance For Pittsfield, Ma, Nicholas A. Armata, Laura Caughlan, Ross C. Kahn, Leonard M. Kendall, Sarah Lang, Tiffany Leung, Christopher Mcgoldrick, Stephen Meno

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

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

In the fall of 2015, the City of Pittsfield contracted the MRP Studio to create a vision plan …