In a few weeks, nine junior architecture and design students from Mississippi State University will arrive in Greenwood with an eye toward redesigning the waterfront area.
The class, a junior design studio lead by Sadik Artunc, professor of landscape architecture, will work with Main Street Greenwood on how best to redesign the open grassy area by the boat landing so that is better integrated with the rest of downtown.
The group will present its final design proposal sometime in early December.
“So many great Southern cities are featured on a waterfront, and right now our (waterfront) is a backdrop,” said Brantley Snipes, executive director of Main Street. “We want to move it to the forefront.”
Snipes said Main Street was approached by the class a few months ago. Although from the perspective of the students the project is an academic one, Snipes said she thinks their final design proposal will ultimately lead to real, material changes to the waterfront.
Greenwood has been “studied to death” by architecture and design students in the past, Snipes said, adding that she hopes this time study will provide a “tangible jumping-off point” for future projects.
It’s too early to say what proposed changes the group might come up with, but Snipes said the main focus will be on making the waterfront a multi-purpose space suitable for family reunions, music, Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce events and other gatherings.
Emphasis will be placed on improving pedestrian access between downtown and the northern bank of the Yazoo River, possibly through the construction of a pedestrian bridge.
“We want to better tie the whole area together and not have the river be such a dividing factor downtown,” Snipes said.
The studio is diverse, made up of students both black and white, male and female, although Snipes noted that most of them come from larger cities.
Snipes has suggested that the students present their proposed changes to the Greenwood City Council and Leflore County Board of Supervisors, both to get firsthand experience dealing with municipal government and because both bodies have in the past been receptive to revitalization projects.
As the main beneficiaries of the project, Greenwood residents are encouraged to provide their input. Suggestions can made by email to mainstreetgreenwood@gmail.com
• Contact Nick Rogers at 581-7235 or nrogers@gwcommonwealth.com.
