Imagine Community, Imagine Home (Chicopee, MA)

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 Plan that details a comprehensive approach for housing development within the West End neighborhood over the next fifteen (15) years. The housing plan will include the following components: Analysis of historic housing development patterns; Analysis of currently proposed/advancing housing projects in the neighborhood; Analysis of future housing needs/demands; Review of market conditions in support of market rate, workforce, and low-income housing projects; Analysis of funding mechanisms for housing projects; Development of neighborhood and site specific recommendations to support desired housing projects including suggestions to improve zoning ordinances, density parameters, urban improvements needed to support such housing development, opportunities for mixed-use projects, and site specific development pro-forma