KINGSTON, R.I. – Feb. 23, 2022 – A University of Rhode Island landscape architecture design studio was recently honored by the Rhode Island chapter of the American Planning Association for a proposed redesign of downtown Woonsocket along the banks of the Blackstone River.
The project, “Reconnecting The Blackstone and The City,” won the associations’ 2021 Student Award. It was one of six projects honored throughout the state and was the only student project to be awarded.
“It reminds people that there’s this little Landscape Architecture Department that produces student work that wins awards,” said William Green, professor of landscape architecture. “I was very happy for the class.”
The project came out of Green’s fall 2020 sustainable design studio, LAR 444. The studio gives students practical service learning experiences through public interaction and hands-on work.
According to Green, Woonsocket City Planner Kevin Proft reached out to him inquiring whether a project focused on downtown Woonsocket may be suitable for a design studio. Seeming like a good fit, Green’s 17 landscape architecture seniors and two environmental science and management graduate students in the design studio were asked to create designs that reimagined key urban spaces and Woonsocket’s connections to the river. The waterway bisects the former industrial city, but has been contaminated over time as a result of illegal dumping and other toxins.
Divided into five teams, each working on different areas of improvement, the students created proposals for the city. Their presentations included changes to Woonsocket’s Thundermist Falls, River Island Art Park, Truman Drive and Main Street, and solar energy generation. Their designs centered around renovated parks, pedestrian connections, an improved bike path and suggested infrastructure to provide easier river access and address water quality concerns.
The students worked closely with Proft and the Woonsocket community to create their design plans. They conducted on-site visits, hosted presentations of their ideas to community members and stakeholders and created illustrative designs of their proposals. Green requires all of this to help prepare students for the field of landscape architecture after graduation.
“This is a perfect way of teaching what it’s like to be a professional at the same time that we are working on real projects where our opinions, suggestions and design recommendations are going to be looked at by the people who are asking for help,” Green said.
The biggest change between this semester’s studio and Green’s typical studio courses was the COVID-19 pandemic. Where students would typically hold in-person presentations within communities, students were made to host virtual sessions with stakeholders. Despite the technological challenges that arose, both Green and many of his students found using digital models and interactive maps to denote the proposed improvements was easier at times.
At the completion of the project, Green recruited two students from the course to prepare a formal report on the class proposals. Lindsey Corse ‘21 and Miranda Hulme ‘21 spent the winter break and spring semester writing the report and creating its graphics.
“Finally being able to work on a community outreach project made me realize how much I enjoy working with communities and trying to help them to have places to go outside and enjoy green spaces and parks,” said Hulme, from Tewksbury, Massachusetts. “It helped me decide to go into a public group for my career; now I do work for a company that does public work.”
Hulme now works at Beta Group Inc., a landscape architecture and civil engineering firm throughout New England.
Both Hulme and Corse were excited to hear about the report’s success at the recent APA Awards.
“I’m happy the project will get a little exposure and that area of Woonsocket will get a little exposure as a result,” said Corse, of Cumberland. “I didn’t think we we’re going to win anything; I was just doing it to be involved. I don’t think either of us thought we were going to win anything.”
Josh O’Neill, a supervising planner for the Rhode Island Division of Statewide Planning and treasurer of the Rhode Island APA, is the chair of its awards committee. Every fall, the association asks members to submit projects they’ve worked on for award consideration in categories such as Excellent Plan, Excellent Transportation Plan and Student Award.
“URI has been really good for years with submitting great projects, working with communities, and this is just the most recent in a line of great projects we’ve given awards to,” O’Neill said. “We’ve been really happy to recognize some nice student work that has brought some great ideas to the table.”
Brian McMahon ‘21, from Wells, Maine, said the project helped him leave the semester with a better understanding of the professional landscape architecture world.
“We had never worked with a city as our client,” said McMahon, who works for Sebago Technics in South Portland, Maine, as a landscape designer. “Learning how to communicate and interact with the public is a completely different process than presenting in front of your class. Granted, it was over Zoom, but it still had the same effect.”
According to Green, his design studios have completed more than 45 projects for local cities and towns during his 30-year tenure at URI. The projects are provided to municipalities with the suggested plans and redesigns for their consideration. Although they are not necessarily implemented, the student work often leads to projects for professional design firms.
Kate LeBlanc, a senior journalism and political science major at the University of Rhode Island and an intern in the Department of Communications and Marketing, wrote this press release.