COLLEEN MCHUGH URBAN DESIGN + STRATEGIES
COLLEENMMCHUGH@GMAIL.COM 40 COTTAGE ST, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02139 415-640-5750
PROJECTS 1 POST-DISASTER SHRINKING CITY
5 HEALTH + URBANISM
2 GOWANUS WATER WORKS
6 RECYCLED LANDSCAPES
3 PARAMETRIC SINGAPORE
4 COMMERCIAL CORRIDORS
7 SELECT PHOTOGRAPHY
RESUME
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POST-DISASTER SHRINKING CITY: Vacant lot types, patterns, and strategies in New Orleans
This thesis project identifies the unique characteristics of vacant land in New Orleans, using thousands of images to catalogue spatial and visual typologies. Through a rigorous datadriven mapping exercise at the citywide and neighborhood scale, patterns emerge defining three distinct neighborhood types in which vacant land should be treated with different design and policy solutions. The findings of this
research indicate the need to revisit the physical footprint of New Orleans, with an emphasis on how the city should target its limited resources in the future to maximize both social justice and environmental justice imperatives, as well as mitigate the negative impacts of future disasters.
VACANT LOT BY KATRINA FLOOD DEPTH 0.0 0.0 - 0.5 0.5 - 1.0 1.0 - 1.5 1.5 - 2.0 2.0 - 2.5 2.5 - 3.0 3.0 - 3.5 3.5 - 4.0 4.0 - 4.5 4.5 - 5.0 5.0 - 5.5 5.5 - 6.0 6.0 - 6.5 6.5 - 7.0 7.0 - 7.5 7.5 - 8.0 8.0 - 8.5 8.5 - 9.0 9.0 - 9.5 9.5- 10 10.0 - 10.5 10.5 - 11.0
2O12 VACANT LOTS BY KATRINA FLOOD DEPTH MASTERS IN CITY PLANNING THESIS PROJECT DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES + PLANNING, MIT
SPRING 2013 NEW ORLEANS, LA
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POST-DISASTER SHRINKING CITY: Vacant lot types, patterns, and strategies in New Orleans
2012 VACANT LOTS
2004 VACANT LOTS
KATRINA FLOOD DEPTHS
OVERGROWN
MOWED
SLAB
FENCED
PARKING
DUMPING
ADJACENT EXPANSION
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY
18 | 9%
41 | 20%
7 | 3%
58 | 29%
23 | 11%
20 | 10%
5 | 2%
4 | 2%
18 | 2%
96 | 36%
116 | 44%
36 | 14%
0 | 0%
1 | 0.5%
5 | 2%
3 | 1%
0 | 0%
374 | 33%
293 | 42%
244 | 35%
115 | 17%
15 | 2%
31 | 4%
92 | 13%
1 | 0.1%
7 | 1%
OC HALEY
203 | 19%
239 | 22%
PONTCHARTRAIN PARK
266 | 25%
LOWER NINTH WARD
691 | 61%
MASTERS IN CITY PLANNING THESIS PROJECT DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES + PLANNING, MIT
SPRING 2013 NEW ORLEANS, LA
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GOWANUS WATER WORKS: Modular Stormwater Filtration
As a submission for a design competition at a site near the Gowanus Canal, this project proposes a network of living machine systems that filter water through a series of bioremediation processes. The system is adaptable to multiple sites and can be dispersed throughout the Gowanus Canal sewershed, providing water filtration and excess storage across multiple CSO outfalls. The
landscape surroundving the Gowanus provides multiple opportunistic sites for such an integrated system, including excess land in the form of parking lots, planned excavation as part of the remediation of superfund sites, streets dead-ending at the Gowanus, and the canal itself. This program reveals and engages the public in a new form of water infrastructure.
COMBINED SEWER OUTFALL SUPERFUND / BROWNSFIELD SITES
EXISTING PARKING LOT
EXISTING PARKING LOTS STREETS INTERSECTING CANAL
SIDEWALK PLANTING
AT THE CSO OUTFALL EXCAVATED SITE
GOWANUS WATER WORKS COMPETITION GOWANUS BY DESIGN
JANUARY, 2013 BROOKLYN, NY
GROUP MEMBERS CHRIS RHIE, LOUISE YEUNG
3
PARAMETRIC SINGAPORE: Activating the public realm in a residential new town
This workshop project based in a public housing new town development in Singapore is the result of a rapid week-long exercise of defining, measuring, and mapping the parameters most critical to urban quality at that site. The project group focused on the availability of amenities and the intensity of pedestrian paths, proposing a future programming of underutilized open ground floors of high rise apartment buildings. Project teammate Dicle Uzunyayla developed the script for this map of open space use and the proximity of amenities, which I graphically refined.
PARAMETRIC URBAN DESIGN WORKSHOP DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES + PLANNING, MIT
JANUARY, 2013 SINGAPORE
GROUP MEMBERS MIDORI MIZUHARA, DICLE UZUNYAYLA
4
COMMERCIAL CORRIDORS: Revitalization strategies for St. Claude Ave, New Orleans
This project for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority focuses on revitalization stratagies surrounding two key commercial corridors in New Orleans: OC Haley Boulevard and St. Claude Avenue. The project development involved extensive lot-by-lot fieldwork and data collection, mapping current conditions, concept diagramming, and site-specific strategy recommendations, concluding in a final presentation and hundred-page report.
CURRENT CONDITONS
STRONG + WEAK AREAS
TARGET HUBS
COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR REVITALIZATION STUDY NEW ORLEANS REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
SUMMER 2012 NEW ORLEANS, LA
GROUP MEMBERS MICHAEL KAPLAN, ANNA MUESSIG, JARED PRESS
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COMMERCIAL CORRIDORS: Revitalization strategies for St. Claude Ave, New Orleans
FACADE RATING
0 1 2 3 4 NA
0 1 2 3 4 NA
OPE COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR REVITALIZATION STUDY NEW ORLEANS REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
SUMMER 2012 NEW ORLEANS, LA
GROUP MEMBERS MICHAEL KAPLAN, ANNA MUESSIG, JARED PRESS
5
HEALTH + URBANISM: Measuring correlations between residential block fabric and health outcomes in Houston
HOSPITALS + PHYSICIANS + INCOME
This mapping exercise examines the correlation between the physical urban environment and public health outcomes in Houston. Through layering geographies of land use, access to amenities, demographic data, and health indicators, a strong east/west divide appears, where the east side of the city has more industry, less access to parks and physicians, and
poorer health than the west. Much of this can be attributed to the negative impacts of living near the massive Houston Shipping Canal. Houston was one of nine cities explored in an urban health workshop with MIT’s Center for Advanced Urbanism as part of a collaborative with the American Institute of Architects and the Clinton Global Initiative.
Population Density
Median Household Income
0 - 2709
$0.00 - $33,832.00
2710 - 5925
$33,832.01 - $45,156.00
5926 - 11312
$45,156.01 - $57,618.00
11313 - 24997
$57,618.01 - $79,044.00
24998 - 55255
$79,044.01 - $250,001.00
Hospitals
E Physicians !
PARKS + INDUSTRY + HEALTH OUTCOMES
Health Outcomes
Park Areas
Worst Third Middle Third Best Third
HEALTH & URBANISM WORKSHOP MIT CENTER FOR ADVANCED URBANISM + AIA + CGI
SPRING 2013 HOUSTON, TX
PROJECT PARTNER KATHERINE MELLA
Industrial Land Use
5
HEALTH + URBANISM: Measuring correlations between residential block fabric and health outcomes in Houston
1
2
3
In the second phase of the Health + Urbanism project, the team focused in on the healthiest neigborhood in Houston near the Texas Medical Center on the west side of the city and compared it to its less healthy neighbors. In order to understand what aspects of the physical environment in the Medical Center area might correlate with better health outcomes, we measured various health indicators, demographics, access to
HEALTH & URBANISM WORKSHOP MIT CENTER FOR ADVANCED URBANISM + AIA + CGI
4
amenities, and land use calculations in each of the six neighborhoods. The team found no clear association at this scale between health and land use measures like industrial area, density, park space, or proximity to freeways. However, we did find a relationship between health and the quality of the residential block fabric, as measured by block size and vacant lots, suggesting an area for future research.
SPRING 2013 HOUSTON, TX
PROJECT PARTNER KATHERINE MELLA
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6
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RECYCLED LANDSCAPES: Re-imagining waste systems in East St. Louis, IL
Recycled Landscapes reframes and restructures waste systems in a shrinking industrial region. The former oil refinery site in Sauget, Illinois acts as a filter for recycling local illegally dumped tires and scrap vehicles into productive building materials in the East St Louis region, providing a model for how urban waste and recycling can be seen as a community asset rather than an intractable liability.
SHRINKING CITIES URBAN DESIGN STUDIO DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES + PLANNING, MIT
SPRING 2012 EAST ST LOUIS & SAUGET, IL
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RECYCLED LANDSCAPES: Re-imagining waste systems in East St. Louis, IL
NETWORKED WASTE SYSTEM
WASTE TO INFRASTRUCTURE BEFORE
AFTER
SHRINKING CITIES URBAN DESIGN STUDIO DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES + PLANNING, MIT
SPRING 2012 EAST ST LOUIS & SAUGET, IL
ON-SITE VEHICLE RECYCLING PROCESS
7
SELECT PHOTOGRAPHY: Landscapes of Production + Destruction
1
3 1. DEBRIS POST-TSUNAMI UTATSU, JAPAN. 2012
2. LUMBERYARD NEW ORLEANS, LA. 2013
3. OIL TANK EVERETT, MA. 2012
2
4 4. RICE FIELDS YANGSHUO, CHINA. 2008
5. PRUITT-IGOE SITE ST. LOUIS, MO. 2012
5
7
SELECT PHOTOGRAPHY: On the Street
1
2
3 1. TSUNAMI DEBRIS UTATSU, JAPAN. 2012
2. PARK(ING) DAY SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 2009
4 3. BLUE DOOR YANGSHUO, CHINA. 2008
4. TENDERLOIN SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 2010
5 5. SOUK NETWORK MARRAKECH, MORROCO. 2008
COLLEEN MCHUGH EDUCATION
40 COTTAGE ST, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02139 COLLEENMMCHUGH@GMAIL.COM 415-640-5750
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MASTER IN CITY PLANNING, CERTIFICATE IN URBAN DESIGN • •
2011 - 2013
Focused on issues of urban decline, post-disaster resilience and landscape urbanism. Thesis project on vacant lot types, patterns and strategies in post-Katrina New Orleans.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES BACHELOR OF ARTS IN GLOBAL STUDIES, MINOR IN GEOGRAPHY • •
EXPERIENCE
2005 - 2009
Travel study: international law in Leiden, Netherlands and globalization in Shanghai. Senior thesis: Citizenship and the Global City: Immigrants’ Right to the City in Los Angeles.
DEPARTMENT OF URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING, MIT RESEARCH ASSISTANT • •
Research on master plans and zoning in US shrinking cities for Professor Brent Ryan. Collected archival images of capital city architecture for Professor Larry Vale.
NEW ORLEANS REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY PLANNING & STRATEGY INTERN • •
SEP 2011 - AUG 2013
SUMMER 2012 & JAN 2013
Worked on a team to create a commercial corridor revitalization study and 100-page report, surveying and mapping current conditions and recommending future investments. Outlined an action plan for alternative land use strategies for vacant land.
SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING + URBAN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION PHOTOGRAPHER / INTERN • • •
AUG 2009 - AUG 2011
Photographed for SPUR’s monthly magazine, exhibits, events calendar, website, and blog. Wrote regular blog postings on urban planning and policy news for the SPUR website. Collaboratively designed a mini park and time-lapse video as part of PARK(ing) Day 2010.
NELSON\NYGAARD CONSULTING, SAN FRANCISCO, CA PARKING DATA SURVEYOR •
Collected field data as part of an implementation strategy for demand-priced parking meters.
NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION, WASHINGTON, DC RESEARCH INTERN •
PROJECTS
SEP - DEC 2010
SEP - DEC 2007
Wrote weekly newsletter articles on recent public housing studies and policies.
HEALTH & URBANISM DESIGN RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE, MIT + AIA + CGI PARAMETRIC URBAN DESIGN WORKSHOP IN SINGAPORE
JAN 2013
GOWANUS CANAL WATER WORKS DESIGN & PLANNING COMPETITION
JAN 2013
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE STRATEGIES REPORT FOR ELMWOOD, LA RESILIENT CITY DESIGN WORKSHOP IN NORTHERN JAPAN SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE RETROFIT BOND CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER
SKILLS
SPRING 2013
FALL 2012 MARCH 2012 FALL 2010
SOFTWARE: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, ArcGIS. Working knowledge of Rhino, SketchUp. REPRESENTATION: Photojournalism, critical mapping, sketching and diagramming, design research and strategy, writing, public presentation.