CITY ANNOUNCES "SOMERVILLE BY DESIGN" INITIATIVE

"In 2011, Somerville became the

only city in Massachusetts to receive funding under the Obama administration's

groundbreaking Sustainable Communities grant program.  The President's initiative breaks down

bureaucratic barriers between the federal Department of Housing and Urban

Development, the Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection

Agency, and invests in cities that take a holistic, inclusive approach to

growing the economy, modernizing transportation infrastructure, and improving

the environment,"  said Mayor Curtatone. "It's

no surprise that Somerville would be recognized as a model for urban policy,

and as a sound investment of federal resources."

In the first phase of Somerville

by Design, the City will lead a cutting-edge public engagement process around

three MBTA Green Line stations and the neighborhoods that will be served by

this new transit investment. The initiative will begin with a series of urban

design workshops to develop Neighborhood Plans in Ball Square, Gilman Square,

and the Lowell Street/Magoun Square neighborhoods.  Residents, business owners, and other interested

stakeholders will have a unique opportunity to share their ideas for

neighborhood preservation and improvement. The participation process for the Somerville by Design

neighborhood plans will be designed to generate consensus-based urban design

solutions without the need for a multi-year planning process.

The kickoff "visioning session"

for all three neighborhoods will be held at the Center for Arts at the Armory (191 Highland Avenue)

at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, October 17^th. This session will identify current

challenges and future visions for the Ball

Square, Gilman

Square, and the Lowell Street/Magoun Square

neighborhoods.  Subsequent design

workshops will be held in November, for which details will be made available.

Community members will work

directly with local and national experts in urban design, architecture, and

engineering in a hands-on format to see their ideas come to life via real-time

sketches and professional artist's renderings of neighborhood

improvements.  The sessions will be led

by OSPCD staff with design work coordinated by Jeff Speck, an author and

designer who is the former Director of Design for the National Endowment for

the Arts (NEA) and a pioneer in implementing the NEA's influential Mayor's

Institute on City Design. 

"During the groundbreaking

SomerVision Comprehensive Planning process, our residents consistently

identified a need to develop neighborhood-based plans around the future Green

Line stations," said Michael F. Glavin, Executive Director of the Mayor's

Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development.  "Each individual neighborhood is unique in

its needs, and I look forward to working with residents and the business

community to identify ways to maximize the benefit of the new transit service."

"All around the country, community

planning is focusing on urban design, because residents know what parts of the

physical environment work and what parts need improvement," said George

Proakis, Director of Planning for the City. 

"Whether a neighborhood needs better sidewalks, more open space, or

well-designed construction on vacant and underutilized lots, urban design and

physical planning has proven to be a great way to generate consensus among

community members."

A project schedule and materials

are available on the City's website at www.somervillema.gov/bydesign.