St. Petersburg Innovation District Neighborhood Master Plan
St. Petersburg Innovation District Neighborhood Master Plan
Award of Merit
2023 APA Florida Project Award - Student Project
About this project
The University of South Florida Master’s in Urban Planning Studio was a hybrid class format, mainly meeting in person at the USF Tampa Campus and within the Innovation District. The project team included six students and spanned the Spring 2023 semester, approximately three months.
The class style and project were a first for the USF MURP Program. Interested in offering students a studio with real-life urban planning experience, USF created a scope of work with the St. Petersburg Innovation District (SPID). The district is located south of St. Petersburg’s bustling downtown encompassing the USF St. Petersburg Campus and several hospitals and various uses such as marine, media, technology, and data. Established in 2016, significant partners include Bayfront Health, the Poynter Institute, US Coast Guard, and US Geological Survey Office.
The City of St. Petersburg and the Innovation District plan to hire a consulting firm for a more significant master plan update effort. The class recommendations outlined in the report will influence these efforts. The RFP for the master plan was released to the public in April.
The timing allowed the students to develop creative and innovative best practices and recommendations as a kickoff to this more extensive plan. New mobility options including a mobility hub, consolidating parking, development and branding of a new pedestrian trail, increasing bike and pedestrian safety, implementation of a wayfinding program, art and placemaking, and ways to strengthen the institutional partnerships, were all explored.
The students collected best practice resources, reviewed meeting notes for stakeholder input, met with key players in the city’s planning and zoning, parking, and economic development departments, Forward Pinellas, and conducted two walking audits of the entire area. Additionally, the students toured the USF St. Petersburg campus with campus staff. They evaluated the current plans that impacted their study, such as the campus master plan, mobility plans, waterfront master plan, and upcoming transportation plans.
Working collaboratively to assess each other’s strengths and weaknesses, the class assigned duties and developed a project management list to evaluate case studies, analyze data, develop maps, draft the report, and create final recommendations. The team successfully provided two 45-minute presentations to stakeholders, one at the midpoint and one final, and incorporated time-permitting recommendations. The collection of their efforts was outlined in a 102-page report, which main recommendations listed below, and the plan is attached.
Mobility
- Increase pedestrian safety
- Advance pedestrian connectivity
- Establish Innovation District Trail (Bayboro Trail)
- Retrofit parking garage facades
- Create mobility hubs
- Establish In-Lieu parking fees
- Promote parking cards
- Integrate parking app digital infrastructure
Placemaking
- Create new greenspaces
- Rehabilitate Poynter Park
- Establish color coded sub-districts to aid wayfinding
- Establish Innovation District Trail (Bayboro Trail) wayfinding signage
- Enhance trails through wayfinding
- Engage local artist
- Use multiple art mediums
Institutional Partnerships
- Advance social media presence
- Increase events at Poynter Park
- Promote culinary institutions