A framework for community design : Worcester's Main South neighborhood

Communities and the connections between them act as the foundation for the fabric of great cities. Suburbs were originally intended as a utopian alternative to crowded urban conditions. However, the current model of residential suburban development in the United States grows less affordable for many Americans, segregates private life to a realm exclusive of community and wastefully consumes material resources . While unchecked development diminishes the rural landscape, urban neighborhoods deteriorate, lacking the resources and amenities of new developments. The transformation of blighted urban neighborhoods into dense, mixed-use communities is a viable alternative to suburban sprawl. This thesis proposes to explore methods of configuring a community within an existing urban site: its streets, lots, and buildings; to conserve land and resources, make housing affordable for a wider range of incomes, and perpetuate a sense of individual identity and community vitality. The strategies explored will be developed into a series of guidelines or urban code for the site. Layout of streets, lots, buildings and open spaces will be determined for a small community. Guidelines will be established not only for housing within the project, but those services necessary to support a viable community: commercial centers, open space, and institutional facilities. These guidelines will allow development of the site at an architectural scale.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1997

Author dc:creator

• DeSollar, Samuel Joseph

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Roy Strickland.

• Architecture

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65702

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/65702