All Ideas

New-Age Year-Round Hydroponic Community Garden

Idea:

Develop a demonstration/model hydroponic community garden. Community gardens have always brought entire cities together and have improved the quality of life. We are aiming to take all of these advantages and improve upon them to better help the city of Lowell with its access to fresh produce year-round.
Benefit:

First, planting and harvesting can be done year-round meaning much more produce, especially during the off-season when it is most difficult to grow and buy. It also allows many more residents to have an opportunity to grow due to the increase in harvest cycles per year compared to the one [Read more…]

Location:

Citywide.

Classic Downtown Information Kiosk

Idea:

Now that we have movable tables and chairs for Lucy Larcom park, let’s build a temporary information kiosk. This could be put in Lucy Larcom Park or other active areas. Kiosks in golden age style (as in San Francisco) could serve as a focal point and place to exchange information. Perhaps a temporary replica one [Read more…]

Benefit:

Kiosks could define the downtown area, as well as serving as communication centers. A temporary wooden one could pave the way for creating them across the downtown area and give visitors the impression that Lowell is a bustling place with many activities.
Location:

Downtown / JAM.

Wall of Peace

Idea:

This idea is based on the Shinto Ema shrine in Japan. It place where people leave their wishes. My idea is to build a simple wooden structure and have people come and write their hopes and dreams for peace in their homes, lives and in the world and tie them on to the structure. To [Read more…]

Benefit:

This is a place where many generations can come together to share their hopes and dreams. I would love to have youth involved in building the structure. The space can become a meditative place. I think there is great benefit in having people share their hopes and dreams. even silently. [Read more…]

Location:

Downtown / JAM.

Light up Public Parking Garages with Lightboxes!

Idea:

Research backlit frames (lightboxes) and work with the City to install them in Leo Roy and/or other garages. These lightboxes could hold art by students or by artists; advertisements for local businesses; downtown directory; or other visual media. These boxes can be found to be vandal-proof and high-quality and be placed where electrical already exists [Read more…]

Benefit:

This would provide extra light and color, enhancing people's feeling of safety. It would encourage people to park in garages and walk around downtown. Most importantly, it would serve as a pilot for bigger changes in parking garages like large public art installations, colored lights, music, or other improvements that [Read more…]

Location:

Downtown / JAM.

Eco-totem bike-counter

Idea:

DIY electronic bike counters can be built cheaply and placed in locations and feed data to a public display. The display can be placed in a public location to show how many bicyclists there really are in Lowell. Maybe pay a young artist to paint a wooden display with a counter in the middle. Work [Read more…]

Benefit:

Anyone, whether they're driving a car, riding a bike or walking, can see the daily bike count. It's an invaluable tool for city planners, advocacy groups and others to track usage, cycling patterns/trending. Its symbolic presence would show commitment to bicycling and make more realize bicycling is a viable option [Read more…]

Location:

Don't Know.