Urban Design for Planners: QGIS - Schools or Commercial Areas as Centers

Neighborhood centers provide a common, centrally located destination for residents. Centers are a symbolic, coalescing focal point, but they also provide needed services for people, ideally within walking distance. Centers provide a means of connecting people—to one another and to a larger shared, public purpose.

The objective of this course is to suggest design improvements to enhance neighborhood centers. This course explores centers that function as walkable destinations and foster community connections. Learn to characterize the different kinds of community centers, investigate these centers in relation to population density, and determine neighborhood coverage.

Learn to select schools as centers based on the relationship between two layers of information: schools and concentrations of multifamily housing. Additionally, learn to consider commercial areas as neighborhood centers.