Revitalizing the South End - The Gateway for Downtown Springfield

This studio report explores a service learning strategy in the context of the Graduate Urban Design Studio taught in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The primary goal of this project is to design the South End as the future gateway for downtown Springfield that will help to transform it into a vibrant urban community. Green design strategies, improvement of services and businesses for residents and the employees of local businesses, and new housing opportunities will enhance the vibrancy, resilience, and quality of life of this disadvantaged urban community. Revitalizing the South End - The Gateway for Downtown Springfield proposes improved parks, boulevards and Main Street as a mixed-use spine that will improve the neighborhood in a physical, cultural, and social sense. Six sustainable learning and planning principles have emerged from this studio: 1. Green infrastructure - Green streets as networks and structural framework 2. Sustainable urban form – Mixed use and pedestrian friendly neighborhoods 3. Community-building art - Expression of place and peopl