URBAN REDEVELOPMENT THROUGH CITY-UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS: ENVISIONING AN EDUCATION DISTRICT IN SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of planning a potential new urban university campus in Springfield, Massachusetts on the city’s long term goals for urban revitalization. By exploring a collaborative and community-oriented process for higher-educational development, I propose a dynamic model that could work as a catalyst for urban revitalization. The study will focus on the following: developing partnerships between the city of Springfield (government, community, local groups) and major educational institutions (such as the University of Massachusetts system); identifying potential sites suitable for the anticipated urban/mixed-use campus or compound; and studying and analyzing the forces within the city (neighborhoods around site) that would inspire and shape the ideal concept for a campus master plan. I will use four major research strategies: (1) Developing a partnership that is to be both interactive and instructive, (2) selecting and analyzing three or more best practice case studies, (3) analyzing the existing conditions in Springfield, particularity the surroundings of selected sites, and, (4) a critically and professionally developed urban design vision for the right kind of university campus in Springfield that would highlight the main ideas and conclude with a master plan as part of the overall recommendations of this research. Data are collected from books, journals, interviews, newspapers, website sources, and other published reports using a mixed-methods case-study approach. I expect that the study of this topic and the urban design programming and work associated with it would yield a successful model for campus planning and be potentially adopted or adapted by others in the future.