LARC Graduate Students and Professor Victoria Chanse in Cambridge.
Image Credit: Anne Roane
Graduate students in the Landscape Architecture program hosted a two-day public workshop at Long Wharf Park & Marina to learn how Cambridge residents use the space and envision the future of the park.
Students in their final studio course, LARC748: Advanced Special Topics Studio, are developing designs for the master plan of the park, which currently features a marina, a lighthouse, and spaces for recreation and community events, such as the farmer’s market and concerts.
Victoria Chanse, an assistant professor for the Landscape Architecture program, was looking for a public participation project for the studio class and contacted planner and landscape architect Anne Roane, who suggested Long Wharf Park & Marina.
The public workshop, also known as a charrette, is an intense planning session that requires input from community members to complete a design. Chanse said that a public forum is essential when planning a redesign, especially when community members have competing ideas.
Approximately 30 Cambridge residents came out to the workshops each day, with some residents participating both days.
The first day, Oct. 11, began with two presentations about the Long Wharf project and the charrette. The residents were then divided into groups of ten and participated in three activities to explore how they use the park and what they would like to add from the space.
For the first activity, residents color-coded maps to show how people use each area of the park. Students and residents then walked through the park to identify aspects they liked or wanted to change as the second activity. The final activity, called Photovoice, encouraged residents to share how they see the park by taking photographs of the space. Students printed the photographs and analyzed them with participants.
The second day, Oct.12, focused on envisioning the master plan for the park based on the first day’s feedback. Participants discussed what Long Wharf Park may look like in three weeks, three months and three years. At the end of the day, students shared their vision statement for Long Wharf Park.
Sarah Watling, also a third year graduate student, said that the charrette gave her a new appreciation of how valuable the park is to the community.
“What we didn’t realize going into this was just how precious this space is for an array of people,” Watling said.
Long Wharf Park is a center of tourism for Cambridge because many cruise ships dock there. Watling and her classmate, Risa Abraham, also a third year graduate student, agreed that renovating the entrance to the marina would be an important element to their designs.
Some residents suggested renovating the dock master’s house and the pumping station so they can provide amenities, food services and seating area. Emilie Carter, a third year graduate student, plans to incorporate these ideas in her final design.
“I think the residents realized you can make big changes like that, but it doesn’t affect the identity of the park itself,” Carter said.
But students also learned that making small changes, such as adding more trash cans to the park, could significantly improve the quality of the park.
Abraham said that these suggestions inspired the motto “small moves, big impact,” adding that the challenge of community design is learning “how can you tread lightly and make the changes that you think are best.”
In the landscape architecture master’s program, students focus on perfecting design techniques and do not interact extensively with community clients until their final studio class.
“This was the first time that most of us had done it,” said Abraham. “Frankly we were all nervous about it.”
Carter said that working with an entire community to develop a design is not much different from working with a single client.
“One of the most important things I’ve learned from landscape architecture is there are very few places where you can design work without affecting a lot of stakeholders,” Carter said.
At the end of the day, Watling said, the goal is to always let the client “tell you what their dream is” and help them realize it through a design.
Chanse said that the charrette’s success and the students’ accomplishments so far exceeded her expectations.
“This group developed a very significant approach that really is unprecedented,” Chanse said.
“I have so much respect for them because they really pulled it off,” she added.
The students are now working individually on their design ideas for the Long Wharf Park master plan. They will share their final products with the Cambridge community and present their ideas in College Park in December.
