Situated along the Merrimack River, Manchester is New Hampshire’s most populous city, and it has a rich history as the home to what was once the largest mill complex in the U.S. As part of an effort to reinvigorate the waterfront and make Manchester a more appealing destination for new businesses and residents, the city is looking at creating a more vibrant, connected downtown core that celebrates its rich history, while establishing the area as an exciting place to live, work, and play.

This planning initiative followed a renaissance spanning several decades, in which Manchester’s Millyard district surged with innovative, high-tech companies and cutting-edge educational institutions. Building upon this momentum, CivicMoxie led the Multimodal Transportation and Land Use Plan for the Downtown, Millyard, and riverfront area. Dubbed Manchester Connects, the plan is primarily about connectivity – finding ways to help people move within and through the area on foot, by bike, care bus, and train, as well as exploring methods to connect events, programs, and activities back to the city core. The plan includes three action kits focused on jumpstarting implementation in placemaking initiatives, the organization and start-up of the Manchester Connects organization, and the creation of a unified parking district and cohesive strategies to address parking challenges. The placemaking action kit led to the successful launch of the implementation phase with a downtown event in October 2017.

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Project type:

Community engagement, downtown / district plan, placemaking, urban design, waterfront / resiliency

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