For Communities

Conway can make a difference in community planning

For forty years, municipalities, nonprofits, and community organizations have turned to the Conway School for design and planning assistance.

Conway provides community design and planning services under contract and at cost, primarily for municipal and non-profit organizations.

Community Benefit

A thorough study by Conway students, under the direct supervision of professional staff, will help the client/community identify and articulate problems, analyze and assess basic resources, organize and present relevant data, clarify and prioritize goals, identify stakeholders, improve communication among community groups and boards, provide access to new resources, and provide models of successful design or planning projects; and as a result, raise citizen and community awareness about important environmental and planning issues.

Conway students meet with their clients to talk about next steps.

 What our clients have said:

“Thank you, again, for your assistance with our landscape design at The Food Bank. Your contribution was helpful in our obtaining GOLD certification of Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design for our facility from the U.S. Green Building Council.” – Andrew Morehouse, Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

“The technical help you provide was just what we needed. You were able to change an unmanageable problem into an interesting project that has many Sherborn residents thinking seriously about flexible zoning, land trusts, grants, and even land banking. Your report presented a huge amount of information with the perfect combination of text and maps to make the report a pleasure to read.…Everyone on our Open Space Committee…has been thrilled!” – Barbara Kantorski, Open Space Planning Committee, Sherborn, Mass.

“The Conway School regularly makes significant contributions to Habitat for Humanity’s mission to create homes to be owned by very low-income families. Typically, our sites face environmental and construction challenges, but the high-caliber Conway students are prepared to identify problems and propose solutions that enable Habitat’s volunteer-built homes to enhance their environments and achieve new levels of sustainable design. The world needs practitioners with Conway students’ skill sets, and its people and organizations like Habitat need professionals with their level of commitment to service.” – Carl Geupel, Site-Committee Chair, Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity

Types of Services Offered

  • Design for resilience: food security plans, walkable communities, green burial, sustainable agriculture, planting plans for climate change, reducing chemical inputs through native plant design, stormwater infiltration, permaculture and forest garden design. 
  • Open space planning: natural resource mapping, habitat restoration, open space and recreation plans, conservation planning and management, agricultural preservation plans, greenway studies, reclamation feasibility studies, town common and park design.
  • Town master planning: historic district studies, streetscape renovations, village center revitalization, limited and/or cluster development plans, affordable housing, smart growth management, zoning revision, design review, regulatory evaluation.
  • Site Design:  analysis and assessment of physical features, context, client needs, regulatory restrictions; provision of design alternatives, phased development, cost estimates, and timelines; plans for building location, parking and circulation, grading and planting plans, management plans, conservation restrictions.

Types of Products

  • Site maps: existing conditions, natural resources, site context, assets and constraints
  • Design plans: conceptual, schematic and design alternatives; perspectives and cross-sections
  • Action plans: recommended phasing, management plans, cost estimates
  • Public meetings: facilitation of public input, community and board meetings, formal presentation of designs and planning recommendations
  • Final report: written documentation of project process and recommendations, with reductions of maps and plans, in digital and print form.

Residents of Brockton respond to the question of who gardens at home, at the first community meeting. Photo: Andrew Kilduff ’17

 

Project Costs

The school keeps client costs as low as possible. If consultants are used, their time is billed to clients at costs established in advance. No project fees are paid to students or staff. Travel expenses for projects outside of Berkshire, Hamden, Hampshire and Franklin counties in Massachusetts will be billed to the client.

If a project offers exceptional or unique educational opportunities, we may be able to negotiate costs down from our regular rates.

For details on project costs, please contact CJ Lammers, Projects Manager.

Timeline

Winter projects: Larger land use planning projects–municipal or regional in scale–are scheduled January through March; a comprehensive written report, with related maps and plans, is presented in print and digitally to the client.

Spring projects: Community-scale projects, somewhat smaller in scope and more detailed in design, are scheduled April through June. A plan set, including construction drawings, planting plans, cost estimates, and other details depending on the project, is provided in print and digitally.

Typical Projects

Since 1972, students at the Conway School of Landscape Design have provided design and planning services to nearly 450 community clients. Some recent projects include:

  • Food security plans: Ajo, AZ; Shelburne Falls and Northampton, MA; Sienna, Italy
  • Urban park designs: Hartford, CT; Worcester, Lowell, and Holyoke, MA
  • Farmland preservation plans: Bloomfield, CT; Holyoke, Northampton and Deerfield, MA
  • Green burial: Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA
  • Brownfields redevelopment: Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Plant, Rowe, MA; Town landfill, Amherst, MA; Former mill complex, Turners Falls, MA
  • Stormwater management plans: Scenic Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY; Hopkinton, MA
  • Open space and recreation plans: Ashburnham, Bernardston, and Marshfield, MA
  • Schoolyard/campus design: Longmeadow and Worcester, MA; New Lebanon, NY
  • Urban streetscape designs: Hopkinton and Adams, MA; Monterrey, Mexico
  • Land management plans: Alto Palguin, Chile; Kripalu Center, Stockbridge, MA; Walden Pond, Concord, MA
  • Homeland security landscape plan: Westover Air Reserve Base, Chicopee, MA
  • Watershed resource inventory and growth management plans: Bennett Brook, W. Northfield, MA; Poor Brook, Chicopee and Springfield, MA
  • Site plans for affordable housing projects: Franklin County Community Development Corporation, Greenfield, MA; Northampton Area Community Land Trust; South County Community Action, Richmond, RI; Habitat for Humanity, North Adams, MA
  • Reclamation guidelines and schematic park design: Quabbin Fishing Area, Belchertown, MA; Blackstone River Park, Grafton, MA
  • Open space residential development alternatives: Brunelle Farm, Rutland, MA; properties in Northborough, Sudbury, and S. Dartmouth, MA
  • Playground designs: Ohio Avenue, West Springfield, MA; Crocker Farm School, Amherst, MA; Lawrence School, Holyoke, MA
  • Wildlife sanctuary master plans: Connecticut Audubon Society, Pomfret, CT; Hoar Sanctuary, Brookline, MA; Massachusetts Audubon Society, Attleboro, MA
  • Camp master plans: 4-H Camp Center, Spencer, MA; Camp Howe, Goshen, MA; Roaring Brook Camp, Conway, MA; Tully Lake, Royalston, MA
  • Rail-trail feasibility studies: Taunton-to-Somerset, Belchertown, and East Longmeadow, MA
  • Greenway design and riverway access: Westfield River; Merrimack River; Connecticut Riverwalk; Middle River; Worcester; Winthrop; South Shore, MA, and Azuero Penninsula, Panama
  • Main Street and town common designs: South Deerfield, MA; Groton, MA; Salem, NH; Wendell, MA; Central campus design, Greenfield Community College; Eaglebrook School, Deerfield, MA; Hampshire College, Amherst, MA

Our guidelines preclude unfair competition with professional landscape architects.

Community Project Application

Ready to work with Conway? Fill out the project application form immediately below. Community project applications are accepted on a rolling basis.