Design Process

THUR-C05: Infrastructural Change: Reconnecting Community and Visioning Actionable Transformation in North Adams

Thursday, September 17, 2026

2:15 PM - 3:30 PM PT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Marya Kozik (she/her/hers)

Director of Community and Economic Development
City of North Adams
North Adams, Massachusetts
Morgan Everett (he/him/his)

Director, Public Initiatives & Real Estate
MASS MoCA
North Adams, Massachusetts
Chelsea Kilburn, ASLA

Senior Associate
STOSS Landscape Urbanism
New York, New York

Located in North Adams, MA, this Reconnecting Communities-funded project explored how the harms of urban renewal infrastructure might be mitigated through the repair, replacement, or removal of an aging overpass — in collaboration with the City, contemporary art museum MASS MoCA, and the surrounding community.

Learning Outcomes:

Examine the history of urban renewal in the United States and its common effects on the built environment, using North Adams as a case study.
Apply best practices for community engagement in multidisciplinary planning processes, using both in-person and remote tools.
Learn about the Reconnecting Communities grant program, its administration, and the ways municipalities, agencies, community partners, and designers can collaboratively pursue funding.
Apply the principles of complete streets and traffic-calming installations to planning-scale projects that promote and enhance pedestrian safety, resiliency, and biodiversity.