Community Design Workshop students collaborate on the City of St Martinville's 30 year vision plan

This summer Community Design Workshop students have collaborated with the City of St Martinville in developing the city’s 30-year master vision plan. Many of the students involved in the project grew up in St Martinville and still have family that live in the area. The year-long project is a collaboration with La Louisane Consulting which allows for the community to include its vision of the future as well with various maps showing new infrastructure, buildings, neighborhoods, and green spaces that could come to fruition.

St Martinville Mayor, Jason Willis has embraced the idea that the project is about maintaining the historical charm of the city while also drawing more people to live here through restoration. Next month the city will hold two town hall meetings for community input on the project on the north and south sides of town.

The Community Design Workshop (CDW)’s mission is to assist in the rebuilding of Lafayette’s downtown area and its traditional neighborhoods, as well as assisting surrounding small towns and cities throughout the state. It gives our students hands on experience by helping cities, small towns, and neighborhoods visualize their potential as communities.

The CDW has collaborated with many state and local government agencies on urban design and planning projects, and with small town and neighborhood redevelopment efforts. CDW projects are developed and explored through the architecture studio (ARCH 502) and are continued in the summer by employing University faculty and students.

It gives our students hands on experience by helping cities, small towns, and neighborhoods visualize their potential as communities. The Workshop is designed to educate the public about good community design and planning principles, to assist communities to envision their future by establishing a collaborative effort with its citizens through public workshops and charrettes.

Recent Projects
After Hurricane Rita decimated the southwestern Louisiana coast in 2005, the Delcambre shrimping community struggled to regain its economic stability. The Community Design Workshop conducted public workshops and charrettes to create a waterfront development plan with the intention of drawing tourists and visitors to the area. Download the plan to see the extent of the project.

In 2013, the CDW helped create a master plan for the city of Scott, located just outside Lafayette. Scott is a growing community that needs directional, healthy growth, and our plan focused on integrating parks into the neighborhoods and connecting them with a pedestrian network, plus creating a city center. Download the Scott Master Plan for more information.

The CDW also assisted in the planning for the University bike path that stretches from Eraste Landry Road down Cajundome Boulevard, which was completed in 2012.