ASLA Oregon

January 28, 2011 Edit

in Announcements, Community, Education, General, Resources, Sustainability, UofOregon, Urban Design

Sustainable City Year - Salem

An update on the work of the Sustainable Cities Initiative work in Salem, Oregon as this years focus of activity.

The Sustainable City Year concluded fall term work in December, with reviews and presentations by 275 students in fifteen classes across eight departments and programs. Members of Salem’s professional community (traffic engineers, planners, architects, and others) and interested citizens volunteered their time to provide students with feedback on:

• designs for a potential new police facility
• ideas for redesigning the city’s Civic Center offices
• engineering concepts to improve some areas of downtown’s traffic circulation
• north downtown redevelopment schemes
• design guidelines for the area south of Mission Street along Commercial
• methods to enhance connectivity between downtown parks and other community destinations
• a vision for Salem Housing Authority’s Orchard Village site within the context of the surrounding community
• cultural asset mapping in northeast Salem
• plans for enhanced civic engagement and internal staff communication
• recycling and reduction of food and biofuel processing waste
• downtown parking standards
• an interpretive trails plan for Minto Brown Island Park

In January, winter term work will include building designs for the North Downtown area, civic engagement strategies, architectural projects for the Orchard Village site and possible infill development opportunities at other SHA properties, redevelopment studies for specific sites in multiple urban renewal areas, and a sustainable streetlights project focused on developing a more efficient design for lighting and identifying alternative sources of revenue to fund Salem’s streetlights.

Read more about what's been happening in the Sustainable Cities Initiative here.