Rutherford Platt is Emeritus Professor of Geography at UMass Amherst. We have cited on several occasions his concept of The Humane Metropolis. In Saturday’s Gazette, Dr. Platt cautions about the hazards of overplanning a city: The ‘humane micropolis’…Urban adaptation cannot be imposed from above through preconceived plans. Instead, it depends upon the resourcefulness of local […]
Continue reading Rutherford Platt in Gazette: Avoid Overplanning
Debates about infill and urban land use have lately become hot topics, spurred by the Sustainable Northampton Plan and the prospective Hilton Garden Inn. Some of the underlying issues have been in play for many years. On the eve of Design Northampton Week, let’s revisit some of the voices from Northampton: Reflections on Paradise (1988), […]
Continue reading Today’s Urban Planning Debates Echoed in Northampton’s Near Past
We are pleased to pass along this announcement from the Northampton Design Forum… YOU ARE INVITED TO DESIGN NORTHAMPTON WEEK The Northampton Design Forum invites you to participate in Design Northampton Week, a week-long opportunity for the community to come together and develop a common vision of our future. The Notre Dame University Urban Design […]
Continue reading You Are Invited to Design Northampton Week, September 7-13
[8/30/08 update: Joel Russell sent us the following comments, which we are reprinting with permission: Thank you for posting the video of the Planning Board meeting. I would like to offer some clarifications and corrections, however: The Planning Board has never been asked to contribute public funds. When the Board voted in June, the main […]
Continue reading Video: Planning Board Hammers Out Cautious Support for Design Northampton Week
The April 2008 issue of The Atlantic describes the benefits of urban gardens in Holyoke. As in Northampton, the harvest goes beyond food to include education and community-building. A few excerpts: A Papaya Grows in Holyoke …Holyoke [is] fertile ground for “urban agriculture”–the successor to the still-flourishing community-garden movement, which itself grew out of World […]
Continue reading Urban Community Gardens Flourish in Holyoke
The Rezoning Subcommittee has kindly provided us with the latest draft of the ordinance to set up a Zoning Revisions Committee. This ordinance will be reviewed by Northampton’s Planning Board on August 28 at 7pm, Council Chambers, Puchalski Municipal Building, 212 Main Street. The public is encouraged to attend. Draft Ordinance: Zoning Revisions Committee Establishment; […]
Continue reading Latest Draft of Zoning Revisions Committee Ordinance
The composition and mandate of the Zoning Revisions Committee (aka the Rezoning Committee) is on the agenda for the August 28 meeting of Northampton’s planning board. This is a step in the implementation of the Sustainable Northampton Plan. The upcoming Northampton Design Forum will also be discussed. NORTHAMPTON PUBLIC MEETING/Legal AD FOR Thursday August 28, […]
We are pleased to share with you the preliminary schedule for Design Northampton Week. This schedule is also posted with additional information at the website of Northampton Design Forum. DESIGN NORTHAMPTON WEEK SCHEDULE (emphasis added) Note: This is a preliminary schedule – times may change. 9/6 (Saturday) 7:00 pm Notre Dame Design Team arrives in […]
Continue reading Design Northampton Week: Preliminary Schedule
Northampton’s Rezoning Subcommittee held its fifth meeting at Forbes Library on August 11. The two members of the City Council (Michael Bardsley, David Murphy) and one member of the Planning Board (Kenneth Jodrie) discussed a draft ordinance on the mission and composition of a Zoning Revisions Committee, also known as the Rezoning Committee. Subcommittee member […]
It is our pleasure to publish this announcement from the Northampton Design Forum… “Design Northampton Week,” the Notre Dame Urban Design Studio project, is rapidly approaching! It begins four weeks from today, on September 7, 2008. The Northampton Design Forum has been hard at work this summer organizing the event and raising the money needed […]
Continue reading Support Design Northampton Week, September 7-13