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| Communities by Design Built Works: Architects Demonstrate the Value of Community Design | | > | A Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights Boston, Massachusetts | | > | East Baltimore Comprehensive Physical Redevelopment Plan Baltimore, MD | | > | Inner Harbor East Baltimore, MD | | > | Lafayette Courts Baltimore, MD | | > | Mid-Embarcadero San Francisco, California | | > | Landmark Lighting Master Plan Milwaukee, WI | | > | New York State Canal Recreationway Plan Albany, NY | | > | Pennsylvania Convention Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | | > | The Village of Park DuValle Louisville, KY | | > | Riparian Meadows, Mounds, and Rooms Warren, Arkansas | | > | UrbanRiver Visions seven communities, Massachusetts | | > | West Harlem Waterfront Park New York, New York | | > | R/UDAT Built Works | | > | R/UDAT Austin, TX | | > | R/UDAT Moose Jaw, Canada | | > | R/UDAT Salt Lake City, UT | | > | R/UDAT San Angelo | | > | R/UDAT Springfield, IL | | | |
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Project Details
Architect: Goody
Clancy Architecture, Planning, Preservation
Award: 2004 AIA National Honor Award for Regional
and Urban Design, a 2003 Charter Award, and a 2003 Excellence on
the Waterfront Award
Implementation Status: Our work with the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
(EOEA) on the UrbanRiver Visions program has resulted in many
successful implementation efforts in the original communities.
View Communities by Design Built Works: UrbanRiver Visions seven communities
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Find Communities by Design Built Works: UrbanRiver Visions seven communities
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Background
On behalf of the client, a state environmental affairs agency,
Goody Clancy led a multidisciplinary team
in a statewide, charrette-based initiative to create visions and
plans for redevelopment of downtowns and riverfronts that would tap
into the unique potential of these areas to serve as special public
places.
Goody Clancy designed and facilitated eight charrettes in seven
different communities in the span of less than three months that
brought together diverse stakeholders and resulted in dynamic
riverfront visions and action plans that are in various stages of
implementation. More than 800 participants contributed to the
visioning and planning process that built off existing initiatives
and set forth concrete solutions, including identifying catalyst
projects and mechanisms to unlock the potential of these
areas.
Among the outcomes were guidelines for effective downtown and
riverfront development, increased and improved connections to the
riverfronts and other open space resources, and restoration of
recreational riverfront activities.
The program has attracted national, regional, and local attention,
including three national urban design awards— 2004 AIA National Honor Award for Regional
and Urban Design, a 2003 Charter Award from the Congress for
the New Urbanism and a 2003 Excellence on the Waterfront Award
from the Waterfront Center.
Implementation Status
Our work with the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
(EOEA) on the UrbanRiver Visions program has resulted in many
successful implementation efforts in the original communities. EOEA
has continued to support these communities through grant funding,
including a new UrbanRivers grants round in 2006. But these reflect
only one facet of work that the communities have been able to
advance. Many communities have successfully used the vision plans
to attract private investment, raising expectations of the type of
development they are able to attract. Others, such as Athol, have
made decisions to site a new public building along the riverfront
in support of downtown and riverfront revitalization. In other
cases, the vision plans have provided the basis for zoning changes
or other actions that can promote downtown and riverfront
revitalization.
In two rounds of funding in 2005, the EOEA awarded grants totaling
nearly $1.2 million to communities to help implement their
UrbanRiver Visions plans. The communities receiving these grants
were Athol (round 1, $64,300; round 2, $185,171), Easthampton
(round 1, $142,000; round 2, $200,000), Fall River (round 1,
$25,000), Hudson (round 1, $19,661; round 2, $128,500), Lawrence
(round 1, $257,039; round 2, $75,000), and Worcester (round 1,
$92,000).
Additional implementation details are available on the
Massachusetts EOEA website:
Public Process
To maximize public involvement in the charrettes, the program
relied on an extensive outreach effort. Two websites, dozens of
stakeholder interviews and public meetings, walking tours,
innumerable phone calls and mailings, and regular press articles
and announcements kept people informed. To include as many
populations and interests as possible, local residents were hired
to translate written documents and oral discussions in an effort to
reach out to Spanish speaking populations. The outreach effort
succeeded in generating large turnouts for each of the charrettes.
The outreach effort also succeeded in bringing together individuals
and groups that previously were not in contact or were in conflict
with each other. Residents, landowners, political leaders, business
interests, environmental interests, and developers came together to
find common ground, to build new constituencies, and to develop
ideas for their downtowns and riverfronts. The charrettes were
facilitated by design, environmental, and economic development
professionals who collaborated with community participants to
explore ideas, assess feasibility, and identify priorities. These
discussions provided the framework for creating vision plans for
each community.
Community Impact
The Town of Hudson (PDF 1.11 MB) acted
immediately to clean and clear an area along the Assabet River to
create a view of the river from the downtown shopping district on
Main Street. Hudson is also now working to bring a performing arts
center to the downtown as a result of discussions at the Hudson
charrette that brought key players together and allowed them to see
an opportunity to enhance the arts and culture of the town. The
town has also used its vision plan to successfully apply for a
grant to bury utility lines along the waterfront.
In Easthampton (PDF 1.33 MB), the charrette
was instrumental in starting and facilitating discussions now
taking place between the city and private developers to redevelop
an underutilized and troubled mill complex. The city is also
constructing new parkland and a bike trail around and along the
Lower Mill Pond using design concepts developed during the
charrette.
In Athol (PDF 1.03 MB), the town has
succeeded in reaching landowners along the Millers River and
obtained the approvals needed to develop a trail that will link
public and private lands and provide a riverwalk in the heart of
downtown. Athol also hired a new Town Planner to promote and
implement the UrbanRiver Visions program and other planning
activities.
Lessons Learned
Collaboration was key to establishing the variety and balance of
initiatives for each plan that ensured resonance with the
individual communities. Incorporating a highly participatory
community process meant that designs could interpret and put
physical form to ideas generated as part of that process.
The lessons learned include first, that a community process must be
well developed and inclusive to be effective; and second, that the
design and visions developed must be achievable and visually
persuasive to create momentum and lasting success.
Principles for Livable Communities
1. Design on a Human Scale
Compact, pedestrian-friendly communities allow residents to walk to
shops, services, cultural resources, and jobs and can reduce
traffic congestion and benefit people's health.
2. Provide Choices
People want variety in housing, shopping, recreation,
transportation, and employment. Variety creates lively
neighborhoods and accommodates residents in different stages of
their lives.
3. Encourage Mixed-Use Development
Integrating different land uses and varied building types creates
vibrant, pedestrian-friendly and diverse communities.
4. Preserve Urban Centers
Restoring, revitalizing, and infilling urban centers takes
advantage of existing streets, services and buildings and avoids
the need for new infrastructure. This helps to curb sprawl and
promote stability for city neighborhoods.
5. Vary Transportation Options
Giving people the option of walking, biking and using public
transit, in addition to driving, reduces traffic congestion,
protects the environment and encourages physical activity.
6. Build Vibrant Public Spaces
Citizens need welcoming, well-defined public places to stimulate
face-to-face interaction, collectively celebrate and mourn,
encourage civic participation, admire public art, and gather for
public events.
7. Create a Neighborhood Identity
A "sense of place" gives neighborhoods a unique character, enhances
the walking environment, and creates pride in the community.
8. Protect Environmental Resources
A well-designed balance of nature and development preserves natural
systems, protects waterways from pollution, reduces air pollution,
and protects property values.
9. Conserve Landscapes
Open space, farms, and wildlife habitat are essential for
environmental, recreational, and cultural reasons.
10. Design Matters
Design excellence is the foundation of successful and healthy
communities.
Overall Sustainable Contribution
The project builds off of the established social and natural
capital to renew economic value and quality of life in the heart of
these communities. UrbanRiver Visions completes the cycle of
renewal of both constructed and natural assets, ensuring their
sustainability. The project’s design creates enduring value
because each community established its own framework based on the
goal of uniting the success of the community with the health of the
river. Federal, state and local resources are aligned and every
city and town has taken on the responsibility to apply the vision
and adapt it as needed in the future. Because the project uses a
strong community process, and a range of design strategies that
establish a community connection to the river in a variety of ways,
it is likely to thrive far into the future. The design solutions
enhance versatility and reuse potential by including a balance of
strategies and partnerships that create enduring visions that
maintain energy and excitement, while providing concrete and
achievable steps for implementation.
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| Program explored ways in which downtowns can be revitalized using their rivers as focal points |
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| Planning team worked not only with communities but with local, state, and federal officials |
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| Community visions and action plans created through a charrette process |
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| State funded but community-based and locally-led charrette approach |
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| Parks to bring greenspace to everyone including playgrounds, bicycle paths, riverwalks, town greens and "urban wilds" |
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