A Strategy for the Cultivation of Community Strength

This professional plan is a community-based template for neighborhoods in the urban landscape that were once thriving and are now struggling with population stability. The study area is found in the south side of Richmond, Virginia in the neighborhoods of Bellemeade and Oak Grove. The recommendations of this plan are focused on the cultivation of long-term residents. The research of this plan investigates three elements that can be focused on in order to cultivate this demographic: aging in place, abandonment due to family growth, and housing issues. These three elements have been researched and developed in order to craft well rounded recommendations that can be achieved on a community level. The research findings of this plan are split into four themes that were collected during interviews with multiple extremely long-term residents: accountability, beautification, cultivation of families, and leveragability of assets. These four elements once investigated gave way to multiple findings that shocked and can potentially re-brand a neighborhood.