A group of Malden community leaders, environmental advocates, urban design practitioners, and local government officials has been awarded the first ever Norman B. Leventhal City Prize from MIT’s Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) for their proposal entitled, “Malden Works for Waterfront Equity and Resilience.”
The Leventhal City Prize, in its first year, sought proposals in the theme of “equitable resilience” – the idea that climate change adaptation should not strengthen existing inequities. “Malden Works” was chosen from a field of 14 proposals for the $100,000 prize.
Malden Works is a new, experimental resilience project in the City of Malden. Bringing together a new coalition of community leaders of color, youth, environmental advocates, and government stakeholders in action, this project will demonstrate a community-led planning and design process for the creation of a new flood resilient public open space on Malden’s industrial riverfront. “Receiving the Leventhal City Prize is a reflection of the great work we’re doing here in Malden” said Mayor Gary Christenson. “This project will allow us to create a new standard for public participation that reflects the diversity of our community and empowers residents to affect real change.”
Malden Works proposes an innovative model, introducing essential climate resiliency improvements to existing industrial uses through the creation of new open space. Starting with the only publicly-owned parcel along Malden’s riverfront which houses Malden’s Department of Public Works, the physical transformation of the project site and the planning process will serve as a precedent for realizing the community’s larger Malden River Greenway vision, designed for public recreation and enjoyment. The project also seeks to serve as a model for the equitable and resilient transformation of similar urbanized waterways in metro Boston and beyond.
The project involves the development of a concept design for the Malden DPW site at 356 Commercial Street through a community-driven design process involving three public meetings during the fall/winter of 2019. The first public meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 at 6:30 PM at the Malden Senior Center, 7 Washington Street.
The Malden Works Team includes:
Kathleen Vandiver, Director of Community Engagement, MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences
Marie Law Adams, Lecturer, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Gary Christenson, Mayor, City of Malden
Evan Spetrini, Senior Planner, Malden Redevelopment Authority
Marcia Manong, Malden Resident
Karen Buck, President, Friends of the Malden River
Amber Christoffersen, Greenways Director, Mystic River Watershed Association
To view the MIT News Article, please visit: http://news.mit.edu/2019/malden-works-waterfront-equity-resilience-wins-norman-leventhal-city-prize-0924. To learn more about the Leventhal City Prize, please visit: http://leventhalcityprize.mit.edu/