Sustainability Now! | UK's Studio Louisville | Preston Corridor Plan | Dec. 20, 2021

Traditional rivalries are put aside on this special holiday week edition of Sustainability Now! as your host, Justin Mog, fills the studio with new friends from the University of Kentucky (UK) who have put together an exciting Studio Louisville pop-up exhibit about the future of the Preston Corridor here in Louisville! Our guests this week are: Carolina Segura Bell, Senior Lecturer in UK’s Department of Landscape Architecture; Jeff Fugate, faculty in UK’s School of Architecture and an urban planner by trade; and three senior Landscape Architecture students, Kimberly Chalk, Skyler Collins & Chloe Mattingly. They stopped into the studio while they were all in town on December 15th for the grand opening of the exhibit in a temporary space run by UofL’s Urban Design Studio on the second floor of the Republic Building on Muhammad Ali Blvd. at 5th Street. Learn more at https://www.udstudio.org/stories/studio-louisville-exhibition

Over the next several months through the pop-up space, the Urban Design Studio is looking to do some more exhibits, demonstration projects and urban prototyping that look at how the design of our city can improve human and environmental health.

Exhibition: Studio Louisville | Preston Corridor
Location: Healthful City Design Studio | Republic Building, Second Floor | 429 W Muhammad Ali Blvd, Louisville, KY 40202
Participants: University of Kentucky School of Architecture, School of Interiors, Department of Landscape Architecture, & Department of Geography
Studio Louisville is a collaborative design studio at the University of Kentucky that treats design as a lever for promoting a healthier and more just future for Louisville and Jefferson County. In Fall 2021, a multidisciplinary group of graduate and undergraduate students from architecture, interiors, landscape architecture, geography, and urban design worked with a team of professional planners and consultants to analyze the diverse spatial qualities of the Preston Corridor and propose a series of multiscalar design interventions that align with the priorities of stakeholder groups represented in various planning documents. Focusing on issues of social equity, healthy environments, and climate justice, the exhibition assembles the student research and design work and invites visitors to engage in conversation about the possibilities for Preston Corridor.

Metro Louisville is working to re-envision the Preston Corridor and is currently seeking public input at http://prestoncorridorplan.org. Extending 11 miles between downtown Louisville and the Jefferson County line, the Preston corridor connects many neighborhoods and people to jobs, shopping, entertainment, and key service and education centers including Louisville’s hospital district and the University of Louisville. But this key corridor is made of disjointed parts and traveling along it can be challenging. Through this project, Metro is working with the Preston community to re-envision the corridor and develop a plan to guide future growth and redevelopment. We are also looking at how best to improve travel for all transportation modes, no matter if you’re in a car, on a bus, on a bike or on foot.

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org

The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com