Creative Glassboro team produces vision plan for creative placemaking

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

Glassboro, NJ, home of Rowan University, is a fast-growing town on the outskirts of the Philadelphia region.  It's a culturally diverse post-industrial mix of college town and exurb that had recently been the center of a largely rural county.  There's been a lot of 'eds and meds' development (that is, university and hospital). How does Glassboro welcome newcomers -- and longtimers who might have felt left out -- while preserving its distinct heritages and stories?

Creative Glassboro is exploring this question and more through its new Vision Plan and tactical urbanism projects. You can learn more about the plan here or join the team for a community celebration:  December 6, 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Rowan University Art Gallery, 301 High Street West, Glassboro.

Creative Glassboro began in 2015 with community visioning. Credit: Creative Glassboro

The Vision Plan calls for growing a more inclusive and greener Glassboro that honors its diverse heritages through arts and cultural activities.  The team is now involved in its first major project from the plan:  yarnbombing and intergenerational knitting activities.

To create the Vision Plan, Creative Glassboro engaged in Community Coaching, an NCCP program that has built creative placemaking plans and leadership teams in 16 communities in Louisiana and New Jersey. You can learn more about Community Coaching at an upcoming information session. 

For more information on Community Coaching, please contact Leonardo Vazquez, Executive Director, The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking by email or at 973-763-6352.