Thursday, March 26, 2009

UNM On-Campus Housing


Finally, it is happening. Ok, well, not physically but the details are being ironed out according to this article. I hope they intelligently locate these buildings (hopefully multi-story, mixed-use) along Central Ave. or Lomas. The parking situation for UNM is out of control and locating dense housing near campus is key to enhancing the area in several ways. First, students who don't need to pay for automobiles will add to the vibrancy of the walkable neighborhood and take another vehicle off an already congested roadway system in the area. Also, students that don't need to pay for vehicles will have more spending money to support local businesses. Finally, this supports my desire to take over the world.

In the screenshot above, it is clear we have a horrendous pedestrian environment on the edge of our flagship university. With Nob Hill a block back and UNM retail a block ahead, this intersection screems for help. We can connect the two areas with very little effort. Locating student housing along Central in this area will go a long way toward realizing a decent pedestrian environment.

Yay for change.

2 comments:

Dan said...

Great suggestions. There is so much great stuff happening along Central that it wouldn't take much intelligent development to really pull these two areas (UNM and Nob Hill) together in an aesthetically pleasing, pedestrian friendly manner.

Michael said...

Yup. Good call. As someone who went away to college and also attended UNM, I've always maintained that one of the biggest problems with our campus here is the tremendous number of commuter students. There's no real presence on campus. When that changes, it will radiate out from the center that is campus and affect Central, Lomas, Nob Hill, etc.