The first case study in 20/20 Visions: Collaborative Placemaking and Planning is of the Santa Fe Railyard Regeneration. It’s a fascinating story of a town coming together to fight a plan for a disused railway yard drawn up without their involvement, to save its heritage and to radically envision an alternative future.
The opening of the case study begins with a question: “What to do with a large, valuable railyard that becomes available in the heart of the historic, thriving state capital of New Mexico – who decides?”. Up until this moment in the town’s history, no one had considered how citizens could actively shape the vision for an area that needed change. The case study goes onto to describe the months long process which was formulated to enable the community to share their stories and ideas. This set the scene for an American Institute of Architects Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team to lead a Charrette over a weekend in February 1997 and create a new Vision for the Railyard.
To see what it was like on the ground, the AIA’s Communities by Design released a short documentary available online, see link below:
Santa Fe’s Railyard Revival