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The Portland City Council accepted the Reclaiming Franklin Street Report prepared by MRLD and Smart Mobility. The goal of the report was to show different options for redesigning Franklin Arterial as an urban street contributing to the form, economy and culture of the city. The City is proceeding to implement short-term recommendations from the report.

A proposed view of Franklin Street with on-street parking, esplanades, sidewalks and new buildings utilizing the land reclaimed from the expanse of the existing right-of-way.  

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Mitchell Rasor, MRLD Principal, will be the keynote speaker at the Community Forest Workshop on October 16 in Bangor, ME and and October 23 in Bath, ME. The events are sponsored by the Maine Association of Conservation Commissions, the Maine Forest Service and the Community Forest Collaborative (part of the Trust for Public Lands). Mitchell is the author of the article “Civic Nature: Town Forests and the Origins of Public Land in Maine”. The article describes how community forests should be viewed as a part of a town’s formative/process infrastructure system - much like what is referred to as landscape urbanism today - as well as providing an overview of the changing roles of community forests since their inception.

civic-nature.pdf

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An international consortium of scientists, designers, politicians and bloggers recently crossed the aisle to save a tree along the Farmington Canal Greenway abutting Highwood Square designed by MRLD, Ben Ledbetter Architect and Graftworks Architects. Robert Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, played a pivotal role in organizing the efforts to save the tree by holding a cocktail party / fundraiser at his New Haven loft.

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More editorial coverage on the Franklin Street redesign process.

franklin-arterials-future-looks-better-than-its-past.pdf

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Working in collaboration with the Franklin Street Study Committee and Smart Mobility, MRLD developed animations of the proposed Urban Street, Urban Parkway and Multi-Way Boulevard concepts. The three concepts show different road alignments, street typologies, infill redevelopment opportunities, open space options and the potential for reconnecting cross-streets that were severed when Franklin Arterial was constructed. The images and animations MRLD produced to illustrate the concepts are based on hundreds of cross-sections of the existing topography and the alignment of Franklin Arterial as it transects the City from north to south. Each proposed scheme can stand on its own, but the various components can be combined to create different scenarios.

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