Back to projects

Townline Plaza - Suburban Mall Redesign

May 2026
Urban Planning Urban Design SketchUp GIS Google Gemini

A renewal plan for Townline Plaza in Medford and Malden, MA, replacing car-dominated retail with mixed-use housing, a pedestrian rail bridge, and vibrant public space.

Report (PDF)
Townline Plaza central plaza rendering

Final project for the course “Urban Design and Changing Suburbs,” which I took during my Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) master’s program at Tufts University in May 2026. It reimagines Townline Plaza—an aging 146,000-square-foot commercial shopping center along Middlesex Avenue (Route 28) straddling the municipal boundary between Medford and Malden, Massachusetts—as a dense, human-scaled, mixed-use community hub.

The Proposal: Six Pillars of Renewal

The plan presents an ambitious suburban retrofit structured around six core interventions:

  1. Bridging the Tracks: A signature pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the MBTA rail lines, directly connecting the abutting neighborhoods to the riverfront trails and Wellington Station. Modeled after the acclaimed Passerelle Zwolle in the Netherlands, the bridge functions as an elevated linear park featuring trees, benches, a water fountain, and universal ramp and elevator access.
  2. Housing & Mixed-Use Densification: Replacing surface parking with six-story mixed-use buildings containing hundreds of housing units above ground-floor retail. Surface parking is moved underground and under solar-canopy structures.
  3. Civic Gathering & Public Space: Creating an open central square inspired by Dam Square in Amsterdam, complete with tiered seating steps, event space for farmers markets and food trucks, and a commemorative statue of Medford abolitionist, feminist, and poet Lydia Maria Child.
  4. Active Recreation for Youth: Providing free-to-use, non-commercial public spaces where teens and adults can gather, including a community skatepark and an all-ages pump track for bike commuters and kids.
  5. Equity & Cultural Anchor Retention: Explicitly protecting and integrating vital culturally specific businesses—such as Foodland Halal Market & Café—to ensure lower-income and immigrant communities are served rather than displaced.
  6. Ecological Infrastructure: Incorporating rooftop solar canopies, distributed micro-wind generation, permeable landscape buffers, and tree-lined pedestrian corridors.

3D Modeling & Visualization

I modeled the site in SketchUp, using extensions to import arial imagery and footprints of existing buildings. I used a mixture of hand-modeling and pre-built models.

SketchUp 3D model of central plaza and mixed-use buildings SketchUp 3D model of the pedestrian rail footbridge

To bring the architectural models to life and explore human-scale details, I also used AI to turn the 3D models into renderings.

AI rendering of the pedestrian bridge, pump track, and skatepark

Tools & Methods

  • Spatial & demographic analysis: MassGIS (MassMapper), US Census Bureau data (via CensusReporter and JusticeMap).
  • 3D Modeling & Design: SketchUp.
  • AI Rendering: Google Gemini image generation from 3D model perspectives.
  • Planning frameworks: Suburban retrofit design, multimodal transit connectivity, equity and community.