youMove Massachusetts Communications Campaign

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

The Collaborative designed and implemented a communications campaign in support of a major Massachusetts statewide transportation planning initiative. This included the creation of the project brand identity “youMove Massachusetts,” designed collateral print and digital products, developing and hosting a well-received website, and organizing public meetings around the state. The website incorporated an interactive survey and mapping tool that enabled users to post location-specific public comments.

Route 28X Enhancements Project Outreach

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

The Route 28X Enhancements project for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) represented a fast-track effort to program funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) to improve transit services in on one of Boston’s highest ridership bus routes.

The project’s effort included newsletters, the development of collateral materials in three languages, door-to-door outreach, distribution of meeting flyers on buses, and media relations.

Anacostia Line Light Rail Corridor Demonstration

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

The Collaborative worked with DMJM/ Harris/ AECOM Consulting to plan for the next generation of public transit in Washington DC. This 18-month study explored the concept of introducing a third transit mode into the District to bridge gaps between the Metrorail subway system and the Metrobus system. This third mode will possibly be surface transit using light rail technology. The system additions are aimed at providing a network of efficient, high-quality, high-capacity surface transit connecting communities while attracting economic development opportunities to neighborhoods throughout the city.

Our role was to assist in launching an innovative public outreach process by providing graphics for publications and community meetings and branding this collaborative process as an opportunity for citizens to help shape the District’s transit future. We actively participated in the assessment of community impacts associated with new transit alternatives, including potential opportunities for stimulating community development within the corridor. A major challenge in this effort was considering ways in which the District could leverage this transit system concept to improve mobility and promote economic and community development in the District’s lowest income neighborhoods.

Boston State Hospital Master Plan

Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management, Boston, MA

The Collaborative prepared a Master Plan Update for a 60-acre site located within a 175-acre property that previously housed a state mental hospital, surrounded by a dense mixed-use urban environment. Located in the Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods of Boston, the site lies adjacent to the 66-acre open space of the Massachusetts Audubon Nature Center, which presented attractive options for development. The Update defined a pattern of usage for the site that responded to the community’s vision of a development stimulus for the local neighborhoods as well as nearby retail districts.

The Boston State Hospital was founded in South Boston in 1839. By the 1880s, new ideas about the care of the mentally ill emphasized the importance of fresh air, hard work, and separation from the adverse influences (both social and environmental) of city life, an approach that was referred to as “moral treatment.” Almost all of the buildings from the former BSH have been demolished except for three cottages that have been restored and are now being used by the Mass Audubon Nature Center, and another old building that will be renovated by the University of Massachusetts Biologic Laboratory.

Master Plan

Town of Lynnfield, MA

Building on an earlier public participation process defining the town’s goals and objectives, the Collaborative prepared a comprehensive master plan for the Town of Lynnfield, MA.
Lynnfield had some specific issues with regard to the future of its development. First, Lynnfield is a town with very little remaining vacant developable land. Second, it is a town that wants to achieve a better balance in its property tax base. Third, Lynnfield has relatively large areas devoted to open space, some of which are important wildlife “core habitat” resource areas. Taking these specific concerns to mind along with other planning issues, the Collaborative created a complete plan for the development of Lynnfield, detailing the means and tactics to achieving sustainable development in the years to come.

This is best summed up by Richard O’Neil, Chairman of the Lynnfield Planning Board when he remarked, “You have presented us with a fresh approach to problems that seem to be descending on Eastern Massachusetts towns at an alarming rate. Your anticipation of these problems helped us greatly to foresee how to turn what may initially be perceived as problems into opportunities. The possibilities and solutions present in your report forewarned and informed townspeople as even now the realities are coming before us.”

Vision 2020 and Strategic Plan

Town of Lexington, MA

The Collaborative designed and facilitated a public engagement process for the purpose of defining a 20-year Vision and Strategic Plan for the Town of Lexington. The final products of this project included an overall Vision for the Lexington of 2020 that outlined a set of specific Vision Statements: (1) topic areas, including physical appearance, governance, economy, sense of community, environment, political well-being, etc., (2) issue areas, defined by the development, analysis, and examination of prominent issues of concern, and (3) implementation areas corresponding to the management structure of the town.

According to Candy McLaughlin, Assistant Town Manager for the Town of Lexington, “I would like to congratulate and thank the Collaborative for carrying off the community workshops so well. You really hit the ground running.”

New England Region Airports Conference

Federal Aviation Administration

This biennial conference hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration’s New England Region offers training and education in general and breakout sessions; opportunities to network with and ask airport and aviation officials questions, and exploration of the latest products and services offered by vendors.

The Collaborative provided complete event management services including: venue coordination and logistics, online registration website, meal planning and catering coordination, graphic design support for outreach and event materials, attendee and vendor lists database expansion, budgeting, accounting and payment, A/V coordination, and on-site staffing. Despite a down economy, the Collaborative was able to keep attendance strong and sell-out its vendor exhibit hall.

We Move Massachusetts

State of Massachusetts

As an outgrowth of the Collaborative-supported youMove Massachusetts strategic outreach program, MassDOT engaged the Collaborative, as part of a team, to develop the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) for the Commonwealth. For the first time, MassDOT developed a multimodal LRTP for highway, transit and rail, and aeronautics. WeMove Massachusetts (WMM) is based on scenario planning and incorporates performance management and measurement into investment decision making. The Collaborative supported outreach and engagement activities, conducted extensive internal stakeholder interviews, and prepared report materials covering bicycling, walking, and demographics.

According to US Transportation Secretary, Richard Davey, “WMM is an essential tool for realizing our GreenDOT goal of tripling travel by transit, bicycle, and walking by 2030.”

Fairmount Corridor Station Enhancements

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

After helping lead an active public engagement process, the Collaborative provided landscape architectural services to integrate new Fairmount Line transit stations with surrounding neighborhoods.

The project involved upgrading two stations and the construction of up to four new stations along the corridor. Also included were the reconstruction and rehabilitation of existing bridges that span the rail right of way, construction of a new interlocking, and upgrade of the existing signal system.