Tim Love’s section of the Graduate Research Studio (ARCH 7130) is exploring new models of urban development inspired by utopian proposals of the nineteenth and twentieth century. The site for student proposals is the former Wonderland dog track in Revere Beach. Love and his students recently toured the site with Bob O’Brien, the City of Revere’s Director of Economic Development, and Paul Rupp, a consultant to the City.

After spending the fall semester researching a wide range of utopian communities, world’s fairs, new towns, and recent “complete neighborhoods” that were built, each student will propose a utopian community on the former Wonderland amusement park site. Spectacle, coupled with innovative transportation technologies, will be embraced as an economic development strategy for this long-fallow site. Students will be asked to propose a new district that will both function as a model community with specific social aims AND draw tourists to the site because of its unique characteristics, amenities, features, and experiences.