Duval Heights Master Plan
UF Urban and Regional Planning Professor Kristen Larsen initiated a project in Gainesville's Duval Heights neighborhood during the spring semester 2002. Duval Heights is a historically African-American neighborhood located east of Waldo Road in Gainesville. Like many east side neighborhoods it lacks infrastructure and has suffered from a lack of public and private development over the years. At the same time, it is valued by the generations of residents who have spent their lives here.
Working with neighborhood residents, developers and City officials, Larsen and her students proposed a master plan for the neighborhood and presented their work to the City Commission and to residents in April 2002. Graduate architecture student Bob Balch has continued the work during the Summer 2002, working in collaboration with the Florida Community Design Center. He has developed design guidelines and a plan for one portion of the neighborhood. He has maintained active contact with key neighborhood representatives and, together, they have developed a model long-range redevelopment strategy for this 'gateway' neighborhood. The community hopes to implement the plan with the aid of State, City, private, non-profit and neighborhood agencies over the coming years.
