UNM Graduate Planning Studio Presents Design Ideas in Tucumcari

Graduate planning students from the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning presented their design ideas to New Mexico MainStreet, Tucumcari residents and other interested guests Saturday at the Tucumcari Convention Center.

“This has been a semester-long project where UNM planning students work with a community in the state to develop ideas that address community needs,” said Phil Gallegos, research associate professor in the School of Architecture and Planning. He and his colleagues, David Henkel, director of the school’s planning program; Anne Godfrey, assistant professor; and Steve Borbas, adjunct professor and former UNM campus planner, held two sessions with Tucumcari residents.

“During the first session we gathered information about what the community had to offer and what it would like to see for Tucumcari. At a second session, this time held at the university, Tucumcari leaders and citizens came to provide feedback to the students at a midpoint in their design plans,” Gallegos said. Tomorrow the students’ final ideas will be presented for community consideration.

Student work includes a zoning overlay and asset mapping – an assessment of what Tucumcari has now to build upon; a look at walkways, streetscapes and landscapes, “the things that provide connections and linkages within the community,” Gallegos said. Another project focuses on catalytic projects – the city/county building and the library as well as the rail yard depot, “areas that have a lot of potential for development,” he said. Finally, students from the UNM Anderson School of Management collaborated on the project to develop a business plan and look at economic viability in the region.

“We hope city leaders from both the public and private sector will join us and the MainStreet Program staff to see and hear what the students have come up with. I think they will find the presentations interesting and full of possibilities,” Gallegos said.