Placemaking Project Part 2

1.    The public place that I have selected is McKeldin Mall at the University of Maryland. It is a quad area in the heart of campus and is located in front of McKeldin Library. It is surrounded by school buildings and is adjacent to Campus Drive that runs straight through the center of Maryland’s campus. The mall is a large, grassy, open area that is surrounded by large Willow Oak trees and school buildings. There are many walkways across the mall and in the center; there is a large sundial and fountain. This place is currently used as a place to meet people, a place to relax after class, and play games with each other. Thousands of people also walk, run, or bike across the mall everyday. Many events are also held on the mall. The mall is in great condition and is kept clean.

2.    I chose this place because I think it is the most aesthetically pleasing part of Maryland’s campus. I think it is unique because it is a nice change of scenery on campus from all the usual school buildings. It is important because it holds school history and is the heart of campus. I have visited McKeldin Mall almost everyday that I have gone to school at Maryland. I do not think it is underutilized. It is utilized pretty heavily. I have a connection to this place because it makes me happy and proud to go to such a great and beautiful school. I have lots of memories here, but my favorite one is when I took my dog to the mall and watched him play with many other dogs for a few hours. 

3.    The community surrounding the mall is the University of Maryland, which is mostly college students, professors, and faculty. There is a strong young community here that is very diverse. There are many buses and bus routes here as well as a local metro stop that is not too far from the campus. Many people ride bikes, but most people walk on campus. The campus does not have any large natural features, except for small gardens and the trees on campus. The top 3 industries in the area are food, bars, and school supplies/books. The community is known for being a college town with many young people. 

4.    The history of the community starts many years ago when the school was much smaller. McKeldin Mall and the buildings around it are some of the oldest on campus. The mall has been renovated over the years to become what it is today. You can see the history in the older school building’s architecture as well as the houses of the surrounding area. They are old. I would say McKeldin Library is the most historic building around the mall. It has definitely been restored before. 

5.    Currently the University of Maryland does not have enough housing for all of the incoming freshman and other students who live on campus, so there need to look for solutions to that. There is also very bad traffic during the day on campus because they constantly close off roads for construction that never seems to end.

6.    There have been many redevelopment projects on campus. They are constantly adding to the campus. Last year they built the Edward St. Johns Learning and Teaching Center and they are currently building a new computer science building. In the future, they plan to build a metro stop on campus, which will be a huge change.

7.    I am not sure if the community for my public place. It is so old that I believe they wish to keep it because it is a staple of the Maryland campus. We could put out a poll to students and staff to see if they would want to change it, but I doubt most people would want to change the mall very much.

8.    I think the mall can be improved by making the walkways symmetrical across the entire mall. This would only be for aesthetics though. Also the walkways could be placed in more places and in more directions that people need to go to. This would make the walk from building to building more efficient. I feel like there could be more walkways. When it rains, the walkways flood, so this cause people to walk entirely around the mall. This could be fixed with some drainage. Other than these, I think McKeldin Mall is great!

Video on McKeldin Mall: https://youtu.be/EjMihLJn5_Y

In class we discussed zoning codes and regulations. For any major changes or additions to be done on McKeldin Mall, they would need to make sure they meet the zoning codes. These codes are put into place to make sure people are safe and that the new project would not interfere with anything and would better the community. A place like the mall has a lot of foot traffic, so they would need to be careful with any new projects. 

We also discussed urban renewal and eminent domain. There are many outdated buildings and houses around my place and in the community. As I have gone to school here, I have seen many efforts to restore and modernize many parts of the community. I think that many buildings are so out of date that eminent domain could be an option here to make housing better. Many houses are not up to date with code or just barely make it. This is dangerous in a college town, so a major effort to improve the area around my place could happen in the future.