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RIDGELAND: CONNECT
UPP 557 | BERWYN
Plaza Verde
RIDGELAND: CONNECT
Cultural Corridor The Ridgeland Avenue Cultural Corridor seeks to create a greater sense of place and identity, as well as to provide spaces for cultural institutions, and incubator spaces. The concept will be driven by four guiding principles: enhanced cultural identity, connectivity, equity, and the push to encourage displays of local art and cultural heritage. The Cultural Corridor alternative was developed in reference to case studies on Latino Urbanism, such as the Washington Street Corridor Plan in Waukegan, Illinois, as well as Paseo Boricua in Chicago, IL.
To deliver this alternative, a 3.5 acre site located on the south end of the Ridgeland Ave. corridor will be developed. The land parcel of 3000 Ridgeland Ave. currently holds a 60,000 sq ft vacant building surrounded by mature Honey Locust trees and low-cut, ornamental shrubs. The lot is adjacent to Freedman Middle School to the south, meets with Janura Park recreation field to the east, and sits opposite of an industrial freight house. The location is perfectly positioned for easy connection to both north and
south Berwyn; it sits directly off one of the City’s only bus lines, and just one block north of one of Berwyn’s Metra stations. The Plaza would feature a pedestrian pathway that will diagonally meander through the space with feeder paths extending toward Janura Park, Freedman Middle School, and into a central focal point or meeting space. These spaces would allow for an array of spatial interactions with flexible interpretations, allowing for a plurality of uses by the community. The Plaza would also include a multitude of green infrastructure such as native plantings and permeable pavements to meet the green infrastructure goals and to mitigate the known stormwater issues experienced throughout Berwyn.
It aims to address previously identified goals by residents of Berwyn to have community spaces that are more representative of the population with the Latinx Community in mind, and allowing for cross community connections for everyone in Berwyn. Elements from the Washington Street Corridor Plan in Waukegan that served as examples for the Berwyn corridor include the goals to increase accessibility through multilingual signage, as well as introducing a more cohesive character throughout. This alternative provides the potential for the community to come together in a variety of spaces that allow for increased accessibility cooperative uses, as well as the promotion of symbolic ownership of the spaces by the Latinx community. and permeable pavements to meet the green infrastructure goals and to mitigate the known stormwater issues experienced throughout Berwyn.
UPP 557 | BERWYN
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