BSLA
/ Honor Award
S tuden t Works
UMass Amherst Senior Urban Design Studio
2013/2014
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
project name.
location.
Springfield’s “X” – From
Crossroads to Center
Springfield, Massachusetts
The work explores a community service learning
strategy within the framework of two urban design
studios with the goal of revitalizing the city of
Springfield, MA, through design, planning, and
engagement with the community. The studio worked
in the Forest Park neighborhood around the “X”—on
the intersection of six major street arteries. Our
study contains a diverse catalogue of strategies to
make the Forest Park Neighborhood a better place
in which to live, work, and recreate and create
to a center right here where the most important
streets meet. Through rerouting the traffic patterns
around the “X”—the proposals increase the number
of pedestrian crossings and enhance bikeability and
walkability. Other opportunities created: places for
local neighborhood commerce, new places for arts
and culture, and housing close to the “X” and the
greatest jewel: FOREST PARK.
90
BSLA