Revitalizing Pepperell Mill Town by recreating social values: Post-industrial landscape design approach

Abstract

The main task of this project is to revitalize the Pepper Mill town by regenerating social values in the adjacent community. Due to former meaningful interconnections between the residents and the abundant post-industrial site of the town, we propose to redevelop the post-industrial landscape of the site. The idea is to design a pleasant public space which, firstly, preserves the historic and cultural heritage of the site, and secondly, attracts people to spend considerable amount of time inside the site. The design, on one hand, restore the fading history of the town and makes the site an invaluable asset for the future generations of the community; and on the other hand, it solves current social issues which originate from lack of public spaces, lack of facilities for social activities and entertainment, and weak social connection opportunities in the community. The design aims to solve these issues by increasing the sense of belonging among the community and increasing the social connection opportunities by hosting the visitors inside the site. The unsafe and ruin buildings along with all associated contaminants and wastes are replaced by multifunctional and pleasant public spaces. The key points to achieve these goals are to preserve the historic landmarks, increase the time of visit, and above all to encourage the residents to walk from further locations into the site. Therefore, this design optimizes the integration of the landscape with the town and its adjacent areas. It also provides safe and attractive trails which integrates several unique spaces inside the site. Other key points include beautifying, increasing the walkability and using non-destructive and adaptive decorations. Designing specific spaces for seating and participating in social activities like wall painting and watching movie are among other aspects of the design which increase the site attraction. The design shows that inexpensive and cost effective approaches can be applied to preserve the historic and cultural values of the site, and also to solve some social issues associated with the landscape of the town.