A history of inspired planning

Among its aspirations are for well-designed, accessible parks and greenspaces, and new connections to the water. The reimagining of LaSalle Park presented an opportunity to do both. 

LaSalle Park, as it has been known, is just a few hundred feet from The Front, part of Frederick Law Olmsted’s city-wide system of parks and parkways. Olmsted defines the gestalt of daily life in Buffalo, just as do the lake and river waterfronts, and Joseph Ellicott’s radial and grid street plan. Olmsted’s legacy remains central to life in Buffalo, but it also exists because of the efforts of civic leaders who brought Olmsted to Buffalo and paid to realize his vision, as well as citizens a century later who mobilized to preserve, restore, and honor his work for public enjoyment.

A century ago, water covered the place where LaSalle Park exists, next to the Erie Canal, now an interstate highway. Those who filled that land created the park as much as anyone. The 1916 water pumping station, more like a cathedral than a public utility, still operates. Over the years, use of LaSalle Park was heavy, investment in it sparing. Yet it attracted parents and children to the playground, dog walkers, bird-watchers, soccer and baseball leagues, skate-boarders, ethnic festivals, concert goers, even late-night partiers. They have used the park, but in a sense, they have made it, too.

The Queen City Planning Series comprises four planning documents developed over a decade. The individual documents include a comprehensive plan, a strategic plan for downtown, a strategic plan for the waterfront, and a restoration and management plan for the Olmsted park system. Built through collaborative planning efforts much like Imagine LaSalle, they represent the city's collective vision for its future. The School of Architecture and Planning's Urban Design Project (now merged with UB Regional Institute) led this planning series to work with the community to shape a new vision for Buffalo, NY. The series was led by experts, but built by citizens and community leaders to ensure an informed and actionable dialogue about the future of the city, including important decisions emerging around land use, downtown development, waterfront and the Olmsted Park System.

Additional planning efforts led by the School and its UB Regional Institute include the economic development strategies for Buffalo and its surrounding region, a community-driven reinvestment strategy for the city's distressed East Side, and a long-term strategy for sustainable development.