Brockton

Brockton is located about 20 miles south of Boston and has a population of 106,000. In the nineteenth century it was a major shoe manufacturing town. Many of the nineteenth and early twentieth century European immigrants were workers in the shoe factories, now defunct. A new immigrant generation has come to live there from Haiti and some Central American countries. Also there is an overflow population coming from Boston in search of cheaper property prices. There is a good train service into Boston and the major local employers are three hospitals, including the Veterans Administration Hospital. Average income is about 65% of the state average.

I was initially invited to help the City redevelop housing in the Pleasant / Prospect Neighbourhood. Over some years I was asked to develop a master plan for a history trail; a plan for City Hall Plaza; designing landscape and sculpture for a park on previously derelict land; and developing a plan for controlling the two rivers that run through the city; making a proposal for affordable housing close to the city center. As president of the Boston Society of Architects I assembled a team of volunteer architects and planners to develop a concept plan for Brockton’s future.

Brockton History Trail 2001 (with Ellen Leopold)

Pleasant / Prospect Neighbourhood Plan 2000

Downtown Brockton Smart Growth 2007

Montello Park 2005

Brockton Two Rivers Master Plan 2006

Plan Brockton 2008 (with Brandy Brooks, David Gamble and others)