Sustainable Placemaking Project Part 6
McKeldin Mall is a sacred place on the University of Maryland Campus. There is no other place around like it and yet there is not much actually on the mall. The simplicity of this place is what gives it so much and why it provides so much to the people at the University of Maryland. The plan of action for McKeldin Mall is to continue this simple place as a special one, but to enhance the strengths that the mall already has. McKeldin Mall is a social place so we are making it our goal with this plan to improve the social sustainability of the place and the community. The mall is meant to be an escape from the campus, a relaxing and open space.
I visualize the revitalized mall as a sanctuary and escape for those who call College Park and the University of Maryland home. I wish for people to see McKeldin Mall as a nice break from the busy urban campus and to feel relaxed when they visit the mall. I believe that the improvements I have made will all encompass this vision and expand upon the malls original purpose. The mall will look more enclosed from the sides by more trees and more colorful plants. This will provide more defined border from the campus while also highlighting the front and back of the mall where the library and administration building are. There will also be much more seating added of multiple types as well as another area towards the library for people to congregate at. I also added more walkways in places deemed necessary as well as added some more walkways to create a symmetrical mall. These all should expand upon the great social sustainability the mall already creates for the community. The feedback I received helped me shape what I needed to add to my place. I learned that I needed to play to the strengths of my place that already existed and expand upon them instead of changing my place too much. We learned a lot about social sustainability over the semester and this also helped me shape the mall to expand upon a place that already did greatly socially.
The photo above is an example of what I would like to do with the area right under the stairs in front of McKedlin Library. I would like to add another walkway to make the walkway already there symmetrical as well as add an area of more concrete in the center as you can see in the blue in the image. This would encourage more social interactions here as well as make the place look better to the eye. People would have another place to hang out at.
In that new area in front of the library, I would like to add a small fountain like this one above. This would promote an aesthetically pleasing place that also enhances the social sustainability of the place as fountains attract people.
Above is a picture of a symmetrical walkway and sitting area. I would like this to serve as an example to how nice it is when a place is symmetrical and how aesthetically pleasing it can be. This creates a more inviting place and therefore increases the socialness of the place as well. I hope to bring this symmetrical design to the mall.
This picture represents the boundary that the added trees and plants would provide to enhance the sanctuary feel. This focuses the attention on the mall as well as the social atmosphere of the mall.
This picture represents the social atmosphere of the mall and what I envision the mall to maintain to the community.
Plan to Implement Vision:
Approvals: I will seek the approval from the University of Maryland then the state of Maryland to begin the project. I will give a presentation that will explain why this will benefit the school and the community and how the project will be completed.
Funding: We plan to seek the approval of the University of Maryland for this project as well as a grant for $50,000 to complete this project and pay for labor work. We can have a fundraiser on the mall during the next Maryland Day Festival to raise money for the project as well if the University approves.
Maintenance: The University’s campus maintenance team will continue to maintain the mall. The community will continue to maintain the social sustainability of the mall through the community as well.
Marketing: During the next Maryland Day Festival, there will be a fundraiser to not only get donations for the project, but to raise awareness of the project as well. This is where will announce the grand opening of the new mall. We will get community feedback on the improvements such as where they would like to have an additional walkway or what find of plants they wish to see be added to the mall. We will advertise this at Maryland Day as the McKeldin Mall Project, which will revitalize the place and improve the social sustainability of the community. McKeldin Mall will be brought to its full potential with the support of the community.
Final Reflections:
Over the semester, we discussed how the state has the power in the approval process over most plans for change within its area of derestriction. This power ultimately allows change to be made or not as well as what kind of changes there are. There are many laws, regulations, and zoning requirements that must be followed to adhere to the state. This relates to McKeldin Mall because the campus is Maryland state property and will need to follow Maryland state regulations for the improvement plan to be allowed. We also discussed how places are more socially sustainable when they are more aesthetically pleasing to visitors. By creating a more symmetrical and uniform walkway layout on the mall, the place will become more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes of visitors as well as encourage more social interactions because of how nice it is to be there due to its looks. Another topic we learned in class that relates to my place is how we discussed that analyzing the purpose a designer had for a place can tell you a lot about that place and what it was best intended to be used for. This is something that my place thought me strongly about as the mall has a strong social atmosphere so I learned when thinking of improvements not to mess with its original purpose too much, but to instead enhance and expand upon its social strengths with my proposed improvement plan.
Previously I discussed how in class we learned how important and influential seating could be on a place. Over the semester, my view on this has grown and I can see how much more of impact different types of seating has. Originally I thought seating just welcomed people into a place and got them to stay a little longer. Seating definitely encourages socialness, but in the online lecture we had, I learned how different forms of seating could be used to influence an environment as well. Such as seating for one person can influence people to come to a place to relax by themselves while they read for example. And seating like a picnic bench can encourage a group of people to all comes to a place to enjoy a lunch together or to have a discussion outside. This thought me about how even small details can change the atmosphere and draw of a place.
I believe the most effective thing I can do to make sure that everyone has the right to live in a sustainable community is to ensure each community has clear sustainability requirements and goals. These would ensure that a community is meeting and is striving to reach its goals that address its social, economic, and environmental needs in order to be considered a sustainable community. I think as long as a community has initiative and set goals, this would do a lot of good for a community and make sure it is always moving forward as far as its sustainable culture goes. Challenges that will definitely come from this would be that some people and some communities would not follow these motives and goals causing a smaller impact to be seen. To fix this, we can implement incentive programs that reward a community that is clearly making efforts to grow sustainability. This will create community development and also bring these communities together to work with one another to earn these incentives.
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