Founded in 1968, the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) is a nonprofit organization that facilitates the development of healthy, equitable neighborhoods through community-engaged design and planning services. By providing tools, expertise, and partnerships necessary to realize neighborhood visions, they support broad participation in the evolution of the built environment.
Improving neighborhoods through community planning
Cities all over the United States are facing a wide range of urban challenges including economic disparity, rising levels of pollution and increased cost of living. With an office in Baltimore and as community stakeholders ourselves, we partnered with a local organization to try and tackle these issues head-on through planning and design strategies.
What they do
300
Comments on Community Boards
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30
Person Team
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192
Hours Contributed
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2018
NDC Volunteer of the Year Award
How we're helping
We worked to develop a two-tiered publication of guidelines for the community’s Pennsylvania Avenue corridor by combining two separate but inherently related NDC projects: one for streetscapes and another for storefronts. The street will be reimagined as a revitalization of its past glory, celebrating its history as an entertainment district and jazz epicenter. It is also designed to support and enable smart economic growth for business owners, homeowners and residents.
Formal storefront guidelines include detailed recommendations for the many facets of streetscape and storefront design, from signage and lighting to outdoor murals and security gates. Streetscape guidelines cover items like crosswalks, sidewalks, curbs, vegetation and community space.
Once implemented, these guidelines will encourage an improved quality of life, an economic boost to business, higher property values for property owners and overall beautification for the area. The project’s community-driven discussions further promoted the social equity that is vital to successful neighborhood development.
The team recently received the 2018 50th Anniversary Volunteer of the Year Award from the Neighborhood Design Center, recognizing their contributions to this great initiative.