Inner Belt Brickbottom Plan - Somerville, Massachusetts

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Inner Belt Brickbottom Walkshop

PlaceMatters is working in partnership with Goody Clancy and the City of Somerville Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development to develop a community vision for Somerville’s Inner Belt Brickbottom neighborhood.  Currently an isolated industrial zone, Inner Belt Brickbottom will become more accessible with the opening of the MBTA Green Line’s Washington Street Station later this decade.  The area is considered a strong candidate for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD).

In June of 2011 PlaceMatters coordinated an Inner Belt Brickbottom community “Walkshop,” inviting area residents to photograph the neighborhood’s existing conditions, identifying characteristics to preserve and those to change in a new area plan.  Participants explored and photographed the area in groups, and then uploaded their photos on-site to a group Flickr feed,. The pictures were collectively viewed on a rear-projected “Photo Wall,” using PlaceMatters do-it-yourself touch-screen technology to scroll through the feed and bring up selected images on screen.   Walkshop participants then identified key priorities and reinvestment opportunities in five sub-sectors of the district, sharing them with the group using PlaceMatters’ Brainstorm Anywhere tool, and prioritizing plan elements through keypad polling.

PlaceMatters’ involvement in Somerville is ongoing, with a second public meeting scheduled for fall of 2011, as Goody Clancy continues to develop urban streetscape and adaptive reuse alternatives for the built environment and many brownfields and greyfields in the Inner Belt Brickbottom area.

For more information

Contact Jason Lally