Field Research
Arthur Jemison and Tim Love behind the scenes at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Connecticut
While on assignment researching the urban design case study that the leadership of Norwalk, Connecticut had selected for the upcoming Mayors’ Institute on City Design, Arthur Jemison (GLC Development Resources) and I took time out to enjoy the playful antics of a penguin at the Maritime Aquarium there.
Richard Moccia, the Mayor of Norwalk, and his staff have selected the interface between the aquarium and the Norwalk River as the subject of the their city’s case study. With the addition of a publicly accessible walkway along this edge, there are opportunities to plug into a larger open space network that can unlock the natural resource of the river’s edge, make better connections between the programming of the aquarium and the natural ecology of the river, and facilitate pedestrian connections between the aquarium and the Washington Street retail district (“SoNo”).
Arthur and I are two of eight resource team members that will be teamed up with seven mayors from the Northeast at the upcoming session of the Mayors’ Institute of City Design at the Northeastern University School of Architecture. Other participating cities include: Cranston, RI; Lewiston, ME; Rutland, VT; Hempstead, NY; Salem, MA; and Brockton, MA.
-Tim