When a group of Tufts graduate students from the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning (UEP) were given the chance to put their knowledge to use in the real world last year, they had a lofty goal. Working with community leaders and activists, they were to convert a contaminated site in a neglected neighborhood of Salem, Mass. into a lush urban park.
But months of work to create a detailed project proposal, titled "Creating a New Place: A Concept Plan for 15 Peabody Street," that was paid off two weeks ago when the city of Salem received a $474,000 state grant toward the area's restoration.
Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry of Peabody announced the grant on Oct. 26 after lobbying for the funds with state Rep. John Keenan of Salem.
Five graduate students worked in collaboration with the environmental nonprofit Salem Sound Coastwatch (SSCW), Salem's planning department and the surrounding neighborhood in the hopes of catalyzing the restoration of the unused half-acre plot of city land on Peabody Street.
According to project participant Alison Corwin, a participant in the project, the students' aim was to create a plan that would revitalize the area while serving locals' needs.
"Our dual primary objective was coming up with a design while keeping the community's interest in mind," she said.
SSCW Executive Director Barbara Warren developed the plan for the park and afforded the graduate students the opportunity to take on the project in collaboration with Salem's planning department.
"Having the resources of Tufts UEP was fantastic," Warren said. "The students are very professional and do high-quality work."
To begin their project, the students invited residents of The Point, the park's adjoining neighborhood, to engage in a discourse on their prospects for the park, according to UEP lecturer Rusty Russell.
"[The students] held two meetings where they sat down with residents and gathered their thoughts on what a good park would look like from their point of view," Russell said. "The Point is a heavily Latino portion of Salem and has had a history of being ignored by officials, and the goal was to bring the neighborhood on board and have their insights and desires be recognized in park planning."
In an effort to represent both the town's history and culture, the students held a meeting at a local church and another at the Old Town Hall.
"The first meeting was about their vision and about history, culture, identity - what they identified with," Corwin said.
The second meeting allowed the residents to list two things that they'd like to see in the park, such as permanent game tables and chairs that would create an interactive place between the street and the park and take the place of barriers at the park's edge.
The residents expressed interest in plans for a gazebo and said they hope there will be a place in the park that might be used for an artistic rendering of the town's history and culture.
"The coolest aspect was this idea of the mural along one of the walls that would talk about the shipping, commercial, industrial part of Salem, and as it moved towards the street, it would represent some of the Latino culture," Corwin said.
The mural, in effect, would record the neighborhood's history, turning a concrete wall made with barbed wire into the park's creative centerpiece.
But much of the work is still to come, according to Russell.
"The design process starts now," he said. "Up to this point, the city and nonprofits didn't know if they'd be able to build a park. They're going to go ahead and bring a consultant and do a more detailed design ... the park needs to be built by June 2009."
According to a recently published article in the Salem News, Mayor Kim Driscoll believes the park will also aid in restoring the area's waterfront district. The plan's goal, as stated on SalemPartnership.com, is to "reclaim Salem's identity as a vibrant seaport, which makes use of its waterfront for a variety of commercial and recreational waterside activities."
The plan's efforts to continue Salem's history as a maritime city in the restoration process have attracted environmental volunteer groups such as SSCW.
"[The park] is right on the South River, a neglected river in Salem," Warren said. "We wanted to bring attention to the park and the river."
SSCW will be closely involved with maintaining the vision and upkeep of the park in hopes of weaving it into the fabric of the community - a goal that is gradually manifesting itself with the help of the students.
"It's wonderful - people are already connected to the park before it's even been built," Corwin said.
