REFLECTIONS…

Posted on | April 30, 2010 | No Comments

I would like to take the time to make this last blog post a reflection of graduate school thus far.  With almost 2/3 of the program completed the end is in sight.  I’ve learned much about not only urban design as a profession but also a lot about myself as an urban designer.  This blog will be separated into two parts- 1- the principles I’ve come to advocate for in urban design and 2.- the experience  and opportunities this program has offered me thus far.

Through this program (and with the help of previous knowledge from my undergraduate studies in urban planning) I have developed a set of principles that interest me and that I see myself consistently advocating for in the future.  The main points of interest/ topics are the following (but my interests certainly are not limited to only these few concepts):

1. DEVELOP SHORT TERM CATALYST PROJECTS THAT HELP LEAD TO LONG TERM SUCCESS

Short term catalyst projects are those that help produce environments where more development is likely to take place in the future.  This is important because by showing the short term success, those in political power are more likely to make the investment in the long term project.

2. PROVIDE ATMOSPHERE WHERE STOREFRONT DISTRICTS AND ADDRESSES CAN BE CREATED

By strategically placing where storefront streets are located one is in a sense directing where “address” creation should take place.  Creating addresses are important because it is on these streets that bring more people into the district.  I’ll be exploring this concept further this summer as I begin to prepare an urban design plan for the corridor for my capstone project.

3. DESIGN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE THE DEVELOPMENT IS NATURALLY SAFE

What I’m getting at with this point is the importance of having developments incorporate design solutions that include “natural surveillance” and “human territoriality.”  For those of you who may not know exactly what these two mean, I’ll give a brief description.  Natural surveillance is designing an environment where there are “eyes on the street.”  Two easy ways to accomplish this when working on a project is to provide housing with balconies/ patios so that the residents can “spill out” into the surroundings and another way is to have floor plans with windows that look out onto the street as living areas (not the bedroom or bathroom as is typical in many suburban subdivisions).  The second concept was “human territoriality.”  This simply put means that the resident whether it be a renter or owner feels enough “ownership of the space” to take charge when something wrong is done to the space.

4. PROVIDE COMMUNITIES WITH IDENTITY AND BRANDING

Branding and identity have been an important aspect of many of the courses I’ve had while a graduate student.  By branding a community one is essentially breathing life back into the community and giving residents a reason to be proud of their neighborhood.  Charrettes are an excellent way to start this process in showing people what type of VALUE their community has to offer.

5. UNDERSTAND ALL FORMS OF FEASIBILITY (FINANCIAL, MARKET, & POLITICAL)

Understanding feasibility is important because without this knowledge a design concept will stay just that- it will never go into design development and implementation.  It is important to remember that feasibility is more than just a concept about is the money there to build the project.  It involves questions such as is the market there to support it, does the community want it, is it supported politically from those in office?  All of these are important to ask when designing solutions to a problem.

Now that I’ve spent time talking about the principles I have come to advocate, I’d like to spend the second half of this blog going over what a great opportunity this master’s degree has been for me.  Through the past two semesters I have come to know a group of really great people.  Here’s some reflections of the past two months.

It all started one day last August as I thought to myself during the first studio- what in the world am I doing here.  I’m diagramming my hometown and thinking about all the new fresh faces of people I did not know in studio.  See this was odd from a previously urban planning student who had been with the same studio group for the past THREE years.

I’m thankful for the new faces from studio, because those are the people that I’m close to now.  It’s really neat how all of us who are going through the first MUD program really did become one big family working toward one end goal, a master’s degree.  We would spend so much time together that we did a lot of things together…. Lunches, after studio dinners, dinner at El Sol in the heart of our urban design project study area, super bowl parties, and just hanging out in general not to mention spending an enormous amount of time working on our projects.

I know one other part/ phase that I won’t forget from this crazy year is the ULI urban design competition.  Half of our studio entered into this and those of us that did spent basically two weeks working on an immersive project with very little to no sleep…but boy was it fun looking back.

So, in conclusion, I’m looking forward to this last summer stretch of graduate school.  One capstone project and then it’s the “real world” which in all honesty is a bit scary! I’m not exactly sure where the future will take me, but I invite you to learn about it with me as it happens.  My future blog posts will be on my portfolio website which is:

meganfish.com/wordpress

Visit it to see where the next chapter of the book of my life is going to lead.  It’s sure to be a crazy adventure.  Thanks for reading!

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